Nigeria most sickle-cell endemic country in Africa: official

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) — With 100,000 infants dying from sickle-cell anaemia anually in Nigeria, the country accounts for more than half the child deaths from the disease in Africa each year, an expert said Tuesday.

"From available statistics, 100,000 infants die from sickle-cell disease in Nigeria annually, making it the number one sickle-cell endemic country in Africa," Sadiq Wali, president of the Nigeria Sickle-Cell Foundation, told AFP.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an average 200,000 infants are born with sickle-cell in Africa, with 150,000 of them found in Nigeria.

"Nigeria accounts for 75 percent of infant sickle-cell cases in Africa and almost 80 percent of infant deaths from the disease in the continent," said Wali.

...