From Nabob Ogbonna, Abakaliki
A group operating under the auspices of People Living with Sickle Cell Disorders has called on the ministry of health, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate to sensitize Nigerians in genotype education across the 36 states of the federation including Abuja.
The group further called on the wives of governors of the 36 states to take issues of sickle cell children very seriously in their respective states.
This was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday and was signed by the National Coordinator of Persons Living with Sickle Cell Disorders, Mrs. Aisha Maduagwu and was made available to journalists.
Maduagwu who stressed that child trafficking, prostitution, sex exploitation and ignorance were major challenges triggering the scourge in Nigeria, urged the police to arrest the actors behind the Aguleri brothel sex abuse in Anambra state.
According to her, the disturbing video circulating in the media, exposing the heinous activities of Morning Star brothel in Aguleri Anambra state were 25 girls from Ebonyi, Imo, and Niger where respectively abducted and deceitful lured into sex slavery and exploitation.
“This scourge perpetuate the cycle of vulnerability, contributing to the alarming rise of sickle cell disease in our communities because the carriers are innocent but the actors (parents) are the ones to blame”, she said.
She insisted that million of innocent children are being born with sickle cell disorders due to non proper education of genotype education.
“And that is why we are calling on the federal ministry of health to engage in genotype education across the 36 states of the federation to arrest this ugly trend of having further sickle cell babies and for intending couples to have
medical check up before sex.
“So as we condemned what happened in Aguleri in Anambra state we also call the relevant authorities including the police to arrest and persecute the actors of this heinous activities.
“We are also asking wives of governors to see cases of sickle cell disorders very seriously, because majority of the victims have poor background and cannot afford the treatment” he stated.
