World Sickle Cell Day: 6 facts you need to Know

By Emerald Awa- Agwu

Over 300,000 children worldwide are born with the Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), a genetic abnormality of the red blood cells in which they take a crescent or “sickle”- shaped appearance. Over half of these children die before the age of five.

With over 300,000 babies born with the sickle cell disease every year, Nigeria has the highest burden of Sickle cell disorders in the world. The 19th of June every year is set aside to commemorate the World Sickle Cell Day. This year, we explore 6 facts you need to know about Sickle Cell Disease.

1. Although sickle cell can affect people all around the world, the risk is higher in Africans or people of African descent.

2. Sickle Cell Disease is not contagious or infectious.

3. People who have the sickle cell disease may develop various complications such as anaemia, stroke, tissue, organ and bone damage as well as pain due to the inability of the sickle-shaped red blood cells to carry oxygen normally and to cause blockage of blood vessels.

4. People with the genotype AS, are carriers of the Sickle Cell Trait (SCT) but do not suffer any symptoms of Sickle Cell Disease. They can however pass it on to their children.

5. There is no cure for SCD yet. Although, some success has been recorded with bone marrow transplants.

6. A person with SCD can live a long and active life as long as they undergo regular check-ups with a doctor, take their medications regularly, prevent infections through hygienic practices such as handwashing and drink lots of water.

Currently, eHealth Africa is partnering with the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and the International Foundation Against Infectious diseases in Nigeria (IFAIN) to implement a clinical trial of the HemeChip, a device that can detect the sickle cell gene in babies as young as 6 weeks old using little to no electricity. The HemeChip is a component of SMART (Sickle and Malaria Accurate Remote Testing), a solution that recently won eHA and its partners, Case Western Reserve University, Hemex Health and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), the Vodafone Wireless Initiative Project prize. SMART is designed to diagnose, track and monitor sickle cell disease and malaria in low resource settings.

This World Sickle Cell Day, eHealth Africa encourages everyone to get screened. Discovering one’s genotype is the first step in reducing the incidence of Sickle Cell Disease and preventing any more deaths and complications from occurring.

One Pint can save a Life

By Emerald Awa- Agwu

World Blood Donor Day is celebrated across the world every year on  June 14. The day is to celebrate and thank volunteers who donate their blood to help save lives. The day is also an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of regular blood donations.  The provision of safe, readily available blood and blood products in sufficient quantities is a vital function of effective health systems.

Earlier this week, eHealth Africa partnered with the Kano state chapter of the International Red Cross in Nigeria to host a blood drive for its staff..

Do you want to know how it went? Click through the slideshow below to see first- time blood donation through the eyes of Olumide, a senior associate in our Geographic Information Systems (GIS) department.

Olumide waits in line to be assessed by the Red Cross personnel

He completes an assessment form and supplies information about his medical history to help the Red Cross assess if he is eligible to donate blood.

Olumide's full blood count and hemoglobin levels are checked. Looks like he's scared of needles!

Olumide is cleared by the Red Cross team and is given a blood bang and a number

Aha! Found a vein! The process of Olumide’s bleeding/ blood collection process begins

A few minutes into bleeding time

Almost done! Looks like Olumide is getting impatient

Bleeding over! Rest mode activated

Olumide gets some goodies to replenish his strength

On to the next! Olumide's session ends and Tim's session begins

All that good stuff! The Red Cross Team stores the blood bags in a cooler to preserve till it gets to the blood bank

The EOC Revolution

By Joshua Ozugbakun & Emerald Awa- Agwu

In line with eHealth Africa’s quest to add more value to the states that we live and work in, the Polio Emergency Operations Centres are being rebranded to provide much more than administrative and coordination functions to the states. 

“‘’All the work that eHA does is not for ourselves but to make our partners’ work better’’”

— Atef Fawaz, Deputy Director, Program Operations, Nigeria

The Emergency Operating Centres (EOCs) were created by eHealth Africa and other partners such as U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and Public Health England to serve as centers for the emergency management and response coordination of Polio and other infectious diseases in Nigeria. The EOCs are located in Abuja, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Borno, Bauchi, and Yobe states and during an outbreak, the EOCs serve as a central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness and emergency management.

After the establishment of the EOCs, eHealth Africa continues to support the center by ensuring that 24-hour electricity and internet access are available and that Technical/ Administrative Coordinators are on hand to ensure connectivity and the maintenance of the EOCs. However, this year, eHA decided that the Technical and Administrative Coordinators could be supporting the states in more ways. Here’s how:

Step 1: Capacity Building Workshop

eHealth Africa trained a total of 17 technical and admin coordinators from the 16th to 24th of April, 2018. This was the first step in the transition of eHA’s role in the EOCs from administrative to technical. The T/A Coordinators were trained on Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Analytics and Data Management.       

Photo of Capacity Building Training

Step 2: 60- day Transition Phase

Following the successful conclusion of the capacity building workshop, the EOC technical support team (formerly the T/A coordinators) are undergoing a transition window during which they are expected to utilise the skills they had gained in their day to day activities at the EOCs. Some of these skills include:

• Creation of maps to support routine immunization and other micro-planning activities in the states

• Acting as frontline brand ambassadors to showcase eHA solutions such as Logistics Management Information System (LoMIS) Suite, Vaccine Direct Delivery (VDD) etc.

This phase is intended to assess the abilities of the EOC technical support teams will be to use these skills; as well as to identify and address areas of growth or gaps in knowledge.    

Eventually, the EOC technical support teams will be able to act as frontline representatives of eHealth Africa to the states and partners who utilize the EOCs where they are domiciled. They will be able to add more value to eHA as well by identifying more opportunities for business development.

Behold the new faces of the EOCs!