Sickle Cell Outreach of Kisumu is a Community Based Organization # CBO 514/014 in Kenya that advocates for and enhance outreach to improve the quality of health, life and services for individuals, families and communities affected by sickle cell disease and related conditions. Mission & Vision
To advocates for and enhance outreach to improve the quality of health, life and services for individuals
, families and communities affected by sickle cell disease and related conditions
Overview
Sickle cell anemia is one type of anemia. Anemia is a condition in which your blood has a lower than normal number of red blood cells. This condition also can occur if your red blood cells don't contain enough hemoglobin. Red blood cells are made in the spongy marrow inside the larger bones of the body. Bone marrow is always making new red blood cells to replace old ones. Normal red blood cells live about 120 days in the bloodstream and then die. They carry oxygen and remove carbon dioxide (a waste product) from your body. In sickle cell anemia, the abnormal sickle cells usually die after only about 10 to 20 days. The bone marrow can't make new red blood cells fast enough to replace the dying ones. People who have the disease are born with it. They inherit two genes for sickle hemoglobin—one from each parent. People who inherit a sickle hemoglobin gene from one parent and a normal gene from the other parent have a condition called sickle cell trait. Sickle cell trait is different than sickle cell anemia. People who have sickle cell trait don't have the disease. Like people who have sickle cell anemia, people who have sickle cell trait can pass the sickle hemoglobin gene to their children. Sickle Cell Disease is Global
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a global problem. As the most common genetic disease in the world, SCD touches the lives of millions and affects many more. People of at least five racial groups and numerous ethnic origins have inherited the sickle gene. SCD is correctly classified as a “tropical disease”, since it is most common among populations living close to the equator, in tropical and subtropical regions. The populations in which SCD occurs most frequently live in Africa (which has about 75% of the cases), in Mediterranean countries, in the Middle East, and in India, with significant numbers in the Caribbean, Brazil, and Oceania. Migrations of people from these regions have resulted in significant numbers of SCD suffers in North America, South America, and Europe. The prevalence and continued high incidence of sickle cell is due in large part to resistance to the chronic effects of malaria that is conferred by the presence of sickle hemoglobin in the red blood cells of carriers, as well as SCD patients fortunate enough to survive childhood. However, this benefit of the sickle trait comes at a very high cost to those who inherit two copies of the sickle gene. SCD is a terrible disease that brings with it pain that is frequent and often severe, life-threatening organ damage, and limitations to the daily lives of the sufferers and their families. In developing countries short on comprehensive medical care, SCD is a death sentence that terminates life early, often within the first two years.
