By Ibrahim Mohammed Saani
Tema, July 6, GNA – Mrs Margaret Hanson, a Retired Dietitian has revealed that the solutions to diet related diseases such as Sickle cell anemia, diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, and liver diseases can be prevented by eating balanced diet.
Speaking at the Sickle Cell Disease and Prevention Through Pre-conception sscreening event in Tema, she explained that eating meat from animals was the beginning of introducing diet diseases into the human body.
The event was organized by the Sickle Cell Condition Advocates (SICCA) to mark the 2023 World Sickle Cell Awareness Day on theme “Building and Strengthening Global Sickle Cell Communities, Formalizing Newborn Screening, and Knowing Your Sickle Cell Disease Status”.
She said presently in Ghana, there was anthrax outbreak, a disease spread by animals and affect humans, could result in severe lung infection, difficulty in breathing and shock.
She said although she was not advising people to become vegetarians, lots of diseases stemmed from what people consumed, especially meats, adding ‘in the Ghanaian society, people eat fruits as desert, but ideally fruits should be taken as the first course.
“Carbohydrates are most occurring foods which are heavy. So it is advisable to eat fruits first to gain energy to digest the heavy starchy foods,” she said.
Elaborating on the prevention of sickle cell, he said, there was a need for the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to collaborate with the Ministry of Education to start screening students in Senior High Schools and Tertiary institutions in Ghana.
She said genetic counselling and testing centres could be attached to hospital and clinics so that people may walk in to receive counselling and testing.
She said fortunately a new method of screening using HemoTypeSC strip that showed result within 10 minutes, accurately, and inexpensive was available for sickle cell screening.
Ms. Charlotte Owusu, SICCA founder stated during the awareness-creation media engagement that about 85 percent of children with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) in the world were from Africa, raising a call for Africans to fight for its prevention.
She explained that sickle cell disease was a genetic blood disorder in which abnormal red blood cells took on a crescent or sickle shape, and caused blockages in blood vessels, resulting in various health problems.
She said the aim of the celebration was to raise awareness on the challenges of sickle cell patients and how diagnosis and treatment for the disease could be accessible.
Adding that sickle cell disorder may cause anaemia, severe bone, joint, chest, and abdominal pain, jaundice, repeated infection, ulcer, delay in growth, damage to some organs, and stroke, amongst others,
“Sickle cells are a lifelong disease without cure, which is why we are bent on advocating prevention through pre-conception screening since prevention is cure,” she said.
Ms. Owusu said there were some barriers to quality health care services in Ghana, making it imperative that prevention was the only way forward.
“The lack of SCD clinics and health care workers like Genetic Counsellors, Doctors, Laboratory technologists, and Health Educators with treatment protocols and training modules for holistic management in most hospitals to provide specialist care for sickle cell disease are some barricades to quality health care services,” she noted.
GNA