6 August 2008
Lagos — Despite may soon come the way of parents of children with sickle cell disease as the Federal Government moves to domesticate the technology which cures the disease.
Towards this end, the National Biotechnology Deve-lopment Agency (NABDA) is working with Dr. Alan Wayne an expert in bone marrow transplantation from U.S who cured two Nigerian children with sickle cell disease 10 years ago, to set up a state of art facility which would demonstrate the procedure in Nigeria.
The Director, Medical Biotechnology of NABDA, Alex Alkpa who disclosed this in Abuja said Wayne would be visiting Nigeria this week with the Esiobu children who were cured of the sickle cell disease.
"His visit is very important because sickle cell is a black-man's disease by a conservative estimate, over four million Nigerians have sickle cell disease while another 25 million are carriers. It is estimated that more than 100,000 children are born with sickle cell disease in the country each year.
Also important is the fact that the disease is more predominant among black people than other races that is why we think that Nigeria as the largest black nation on earth should be able to spear-head efforts aimed at finding permanent solution to the problem of this disease in Africa," he stated.
The visiting Doctor according to Akpa would use the period to further enlighten few Nigerians Doctors who have received training on bone marrow disease.
"There are a few Nigerians who received training on bone marrow disease. He can help us sharpen those ones. He can also help us set up a standard state of the art facility in the country where this procedure can be carried out so that parents who can afford can access treatment for their children who have the disease," Akpan said.
Akpa expressed hope that when the centre is in place, it would save the country millions of dollars in terms of capital flight spent on the treatment of this believable 'incurable' bone disease.
The procedure is expensive but if we can domesticate it, it will be less expensive. If we can bring this medication home to Nigeria, many people will be ready to sacrifice whatever they can to save their children from suffering," the associate Professor posited.
Akpa recalled that "in 1998, Dr. Allan Wayne carried out Bone Marrow Transplantation on a Nigerian child, Chuka Esiobu, who then had the sickle cell disease. He obtained healthy sample from the sibling of the patient with whom he had a 6/6 HLA typing-perfect match" Chemotherapy was used to kill off the healthy and sickle blood cells.
During the period, he was isolated in a completely sterile environment so as to prevent infection due to compromised immune status. Engraftment of the donour blood marrow was done.
Over a period of following the transplant till present his genotype is AA instead of SS. The success of the operation led to the U. S. government to sponsor a second transplant for his younger sibling who consequently went from SS to AS."
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