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Kenya’s Ministry of Health on Friday launched sickle cell disease management guidelines and ensures people living with the condition receive quality and affordable care.

Andrew Mulwa, acting director of Preventive and Promotive Health, said the guidelines mark a new dawn in the management of sickle cell that in the past was erratic with no uniformity and relied on individual assessment of health workers across the country. 

He urged key stakeholders to embrace the guidelines and help reduce deaths linked to the disease adding that the government will enhance the provision of life-saving drugs to patients.

The Kenyan government plans to open sickle cell clinics in hospitals and health centers across the country.

Fredrick Okinyi, chairman of Sickle Cell Federation of Kenya, urged the inclusion of drugs used for the management of sickle cells such as drug hydroxyurea on the list of essential medicines under the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) cover.

 Okinyi said that the drug is currently accessed by patients who are able to pay as each pill goes for about 50 shillings (0.46 U.S. dollars), an amount that is expensive for some patients that require a daily dosage of three drugs. 

Out of the 240,000 children that are born with sickle cell in Africa annually, 6,000 are found in Kenya amid threat to their physical and cognitive development.