The Federal Government on Friday said it would not
criminalise marriage between carriers of sickle cell disease
in the country .
The Permanent Secretary , Federal Ministry of Health, Mr
Linus Awute , disclosed this in Abuja at a news conference
organised to mark the 2015 World Sickle Cell Day .
The government was reacting to speculations that it was
pursuing a legislation to ban marriage between victims of
the disease .
He said the Federal Government through the ministry would
rather adopt aggressive public sensitisation that would be
geared towards creating more awareness about the disease
in Nigeria.
“ Couples who are carriers are still getting married today
out of ignorance and the best way to cure ignorance is by
sensitisation of the public.
“ Criminalising marriage between two carriers is
undemocratic because it will amount to criminalising love ,
so government is not even contemplating that option.
“ We are in a democracy and I think everybody is free to
choose his or her partner, so the best approach for now is
sensitisation which will be at the head of other strategies , ”
he said .
Linus Awute , Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health
The scribe , however , acknowledged the fact that the
burden of the disease in Nigeria was high and that there
was an urgent need for actions to be scaled up.
He said the ministry had developed a set of guidelines for
the management of the disease which was now functional
in designated centres across the country .
Awute said the government in addition to the sensitisation
approach was working towards integrating management of
sickle cell and other non- communicable diseases in the
nation’s primary healthcare system.
He said the ministry would actualise the plan by building
the capacity of health workers and facilities in the primary
health care centres across the country.
The permanent secretary said plans towards reducing the
burden in Nigeria would also include expanding the scope
of treatment in the six geo -political zones .
According to Awute, the centres include Abakaliki for the
South- East zone; Birnin Kebbi for North - West ; Ebute Metta
for South West ; Gombe for North -East; Keffi for North -
Central, and Yenagoa for the South -South region.
He said the efforts by the federal government also include
the commencement of stem cell transplant at the
University of Benin Teaching Hospital .
He said the stem cell transplant was the only definitive
cure for treatment of the disease , but decried the low
demand for the service due to its high cost .
Awute added that sickle cell management was also
contained in Nigeria’ s post MDGs plan because of
government’ s commitment to curbing the menace.
He urged Nigerians to debunk prejudices associated with
sickle cell disease particularly insinuations that the disease
was associated with witch craft.
NAN reports that the theme for the 2015 commemoration is
`Control of sickle cell in Nigeria at the primary health care
level ’ .
Statistics indicate that over 100 million persons in the
world are affected by the disease , while an estimated 40
million Nigerians are carriers of the sickle cell trait .
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