MTN Foundation, Sickle Cell Foundation graduate Sickle cell Genetic Counsellors/Carers

4th April, 2011 - 7:30 AM

A new set of healthcare workers have successfully completed a genetic counselling course at the National Sickle Cell Centre, Idi Araba, Lagos. The candidates constitute the 12th batch of healthcare workers to pass through the training organised by the Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria and facilitated by the MTN Foundation, the corporate social investment vehicle of Nigeria¿s leading telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria.

According to the Chairman, Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria, Professor Olu Akinyanju, the role of trained genetic nurse-counsellors is extremely important as they are the most cost-effective first step in managing sickle cell disorder in the communities. Professor Akinyanju who spoke at the certificate award presentation ceremony said that sickle cell remains a complex disorder with variable severity and often unpredictable manifestations.

¿The role of the genetic counsellors is to ensure that their clients, that is, affected persons, parents or carriers are provided with all the information necessary to assist them in coping and reaching their own decision on any course of action and to respect and support those decisions,¿ said Akinyanju.

The counsellors, he said, also help to form and run support and advocacy associations and promote the development of appropriate facilities in their localities.

In his own remarks, Chairman, MTN Foundation, Ambassador Hamzat Ahmadu, said that the MTN Foundation entered into partnership with the Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria in May 2006 with a view to bringing succour to sufferers of the sickle cell disorder. He said the partnership has given rise to MTN Foundation¿s support for sickle cell clinics in Lagos, Edo, Delta and Kano States by providing free drugs and counselling services.

The two-week genetic counselling course, he said, is important in the management of the sickle cell disorder. According to him, carrier identification, genetic counselling, and prenatal diagnosis remain the best measures to stem the tide of the scourge.

He recalled that in August 2009, the Foundation commissioned a state-of-the-art DNA laboratory which has since then been playing its own role in the overall strategy against the sickle cell scourge in the society.

The DNA laboratory, he said, has liberalised access to critical, life-changing information for couples and prospective parents, enabling them make informed decisions capable of stemming the tide of the disorder. He said the genetic counsellors being turned out at the 12th graduation ceremony would join their peers on the field to play the role of enabling couples understand the disorder and the probabilities, limitations, and potential consequences of whatever options they take.

Other dignitaries present at the ceremony included the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Femi Olugbile who represented the Honourable Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Dr. Jide Idris; Dr. A.O Dosunmu who represented the Chief Medical Director, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Professor Daniel Oke; Dr. Gallussi Cristiano, Visiting Fellow, Mediterranean Institute of Haematology, Rome; and Specialist Nurse Counsellor and Resource Person, Ms. Comfort Okolo, among others.