Imagine a classroom with thirty children and a teacher writing on a board. On a normal school day, you would see backpacks, laughter and undivided attention to education.
Statistically, at least two or three of those children are living with Sickle Cell Disease. Some of them already know, while some do not and are quietly managing pain they have never been able to explain.
If you multiply that classroom by every primary school in Nigeria you will understand the scale of what we are dealing with. Nigeria records approximately 150,000 new cases of Sickle Cell Disease every year, having the highest burden of the condition in the entire world. Yet our infrastructure for managing it is no equal to the size of the problem.
We have a clear, urgent goal to reach and support 5 million children living with SCD, ensuring they have access to the information, care and resources they need to live well. And by living well, we mean a child who knows their diagnosis and understands it, is on the right medication, and the child’s teacher knows what a crisis looks like and does not send them to sit in one corner when the pain comes. It means a child who grows up believing their life has full possibilities.
What Your Support Does
By donating to our cause, you are:
Funding newborn screening, because a child diagnosed at birth has better outcomes than one diagnosed at a later age.
Supporting caregiver education, because a parent who understands the right medicines, hydration and crisis triggers can prevent hospital visits
Enabling community outreach, because Sickle Cell Disease does not only live in Lagos and Abuja but in every local government area in this country where a child is being treated for "stubborn malaria" that is actually an undiagnosed sickle cell crisis.
Right now, the majority of Nigerian children with SCD are not receiving the standard of care that guidelines recommend. This is because the awareness, the funding and the systems are not where they need to be yet. We need people who decide the problem is worth their attention and their resources to fill this gap.
Finally,
Somewhere in Nigeria, a child is going through crisis and a parent is sitting beside them not knowing what to do, not knowing what their child has, not knowing that help exists.
At SCFN, we are trying to make sure that the story ends differently. That five million children who were born into pain and crises do not have to live their whole lives defined by it.
Be a part of this and make that donation today.
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