Statement on World Sickle Cell Day – June 19th, 2023
Raise Awareness, Stop Their Pain!
The World Health Organization (2006) and the United Nations (2008) have recognized sickle cell disease as a global public health priority and in order to raise awareness of the disease, designated the 19th day of June every year as World Sickle Cell Day (WSCD). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that sickle-cell disease affects nearly 100 million people worldwide and over 300 000 children are born every year with the condition.
Tragically, the majority of these individuals will die in childhood due to a lack of basic care, and those who survive into adulthood too often face a life of chronic disability and premature death unless disease-modifying therapy can be provided.
The WHO, therefore, urges countries affected by Sickle Cell Disease to establish health programs at the national level and to promote access to medical services for people affected by the disease.
The Global Action Network for Sickle Cell & Other Inherited Blood Disorders launched on April 6th, 2023, is using this medium to encourage governments, clinician organizations, and patient organizations to utilize this day as a stepping stone to jointly advance policy changes that will improve the health outcomes of people living with inherited blood disorders.
World Sickle Cell Day Theme
The GANSID wishes to thank the SCD community for the multiple requests for a WSCD theme from GANSID and wishes to inform that the GANSID will not release a theme this year but rather use this year to:
- Learn and understand the themes and activities that the sickle cell community would be interested in for future World Sickle Cell Days.
- Showcase its member organizations’ WSCD 2023 activities.
As such, we have created a 3-question survey with respect to the WSCD themes and initiatives and it should only take 2 minutes to complete. Please ensure to complete it by June 14th, 2023 and we thank you in advance for your time.
Link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WSCDquestions
QR code to access the survey:
The Board of Directors
The Global Action Network for Sickle Cell and Other Inherited Blood Disorders (GANSID)
