Sickle Cell Anemia Awareness
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
One of the biggest healthcare hurdles facing our members today is Sickle Cell Anemia. At the November 2007 Human Rights Committee (HRC) meeting, the HRC voted to support an effort to make Sickle Cell Anemia our charitable cause for 2008. We believe that it is imperative to raise awareness of this issue and to support efforts to continue research. Research has proven that preventive education, medications and early treatment can save lives.
Sickle Cell Disease is the most common genetic disease in the United States. It is an inherited blood disorder that affects 1 out of every 600 African-Americans. It also affects people of other ethnic backgrounds, including Italians, Greeks, Arabs and people from India. There are more than 70,000 Americans with sickle cell anemia. About 2 million Americans have the sickle cell trait, which means they carry a single gene for the disease, but do not have it themselves.
Sickle Cell Anemia causes life long pain events, low blood count, susceptibility to infections, increased incidence of strokes, and many other complications.
Past research and progress is reflected in a doubling of the life expectancy for patients with sickle cell disease since 1970, with patients now living on average into their mid-forties. It is reflected in the routine screening of infants for sickle cell disease and in the routine administration shortly after birth of antibiotic treatment to those infants identified with the disease.
The Women’s and Fair Practices Departments support and encourage continued research to improve the lives of persons with sickle cell disease. We support and encourage new research studies to advance the understanding of the disease that will provide the insight needed to develop new approaches to treatment and cure.