Africa is beginning to build more of its own response to sickle cell disease, linking local research and clinical expertise with pharmaceutical manufacturing.
African drugmakers and health researchers are starting to connect local pharmaceutical production with the continent’s long-running work on sickle cell disease, as WHO pushes for wider access to hydroxyurea and child-friendly formulations.
This is showing up in Senegal and Nigeria, where locally developed or manufactured treatments are beginning to add a production layer to Africa’s response to a disease that disproportionately affects the continent.
Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder in which red blood cells become rigid and sickle-shaped, restricting blood flow and causing anaemia, severe pain and damage to organs.
Hydroxyurea is an established treatment that helps reduce painful crises and other complications by increasing the production of fetal haemoglobin, which makes red blood cells less likely to sickle.
