Programs
Let’s Talk Sickle Cell || Blood Drive || Blood Konnect || Red Cell Series || Sickle Smart Community || Know Your Genotype Campaign
Over 200 awareness programs held
Let's Talk Sickle Cell
We believe strongly in the words of Dr. Francis Bacon that “knowledge itself is power.” Let’s Talk Sickle Cell is an initiative that serves to educate and enlighten our immediate community and beyond about sickle cell disorder. Our let’s talk sickle cell projects are tailored to educate people living with sickle cell disorder about the condition, self-care, and how to thrive living with SCD; the general public on SCD; prevention of sickle cell disease; and how to care for people living with sickle cell disease.
Since inception, we have participated in over 150 educational events, 50 radio programs, 3 television programs, as well as numerous live and online events.
0ver 600 blood donations made
Our Blood Drive Story
Our first attempt at hosting a blood drive was on June 26th, 2018 in the Woji community in Rivers State, Nigeria, where we got 20 pints of blood. In 2019, in commemoration of World Blood Donor Day, we hosted a SCAHF Blood Drive at the University of Port Harcourt, and the first beneficiaries of the blood donated from the drive were victims of the fire outbreak at the Port Harcourt Mall. The blood came just in time to save lives. Later in 2019, we hosted the 2nd edition of the SCAHF Blood Drive at Rukpokwu Community on September 20th, 2019, also in Rivers State.
In 2020, to commemorate World Blood Donor Day despite the limitations of the pandemic, we collaborated with the Paediatric Sickle Support Initiative and the Liberation Leadership Advancement Forum and hosted a Walk-in Blood Donation tagged One Event, Many Locations. A total of 98 pints of blood were obtained and used in the management of patients in various states. Due to the pandemic and restrictions on movement in 2020, we partnered with St. Patrick Specialist Hospital to successfully host two blood drives with over 100 pints.
In June 2021, in commemoration of World Blood Donor Day, we hosted the first blood drive at the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, where 98 pints of blood were donated, making it the highest amount of blood gotten by an organization from a single drive in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. This milestone was achieved in partnership with the Departments of Hematology of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and Rivers State University Teaching Hospital. Later in the year, we hosted another blood drive during the Muscles on Wheels annual biker event. All our drives have been hosted in partnership with the Department of Haematology at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. It has been 4 years and we are grateful for all the support they have given us towards making blood and its products accessible to patients.
0ver 650 free genotype and blood group screening done
Know Your Genotype Campaign
Our very first Know Your Genotype Campaign and Let’s Talk Sickle Cell event was hosted on June 26th, 2018 with the aim of creating awareness of the condition in the community and making genotype and blood group screenings free and accessible to all. At this event, over 300 people received free genetic counselling and were also educated about SCD, while 105 genotype screenings were conducted.
Our Community Genotype Screening campaign was launched in June 2019 with the focus of increasing the number of people who know their genotype. This project has been hosted in 7 communities in Rivers State, enabling us to offer free genotype and blood group screening to over 600 people.
0ver 150 members of our support community.
Sickle Smart Community
SCAHF started as an awareness forum set up to educate people about sickle cell disorder and advocate for people living with sickle cell disease. In 2018, an online (Whatsapp) support group was established and has remained till this day. Through the support group, we provide online counseling and medical consultations to warriors and have as well built an online community for people living with sickle cell.
In 2020 during the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic, we launched the covid welfare project when provided routine medicines and welfare packages to over 100 warriors in Rivers State. We have also supported members of our community by raising funds for life-saving needs to so as to ensure much needed health services are accessible to people living with sickle cell disease who cannot on their own afford them. We are a community focused on bringing the sickle cell knowledge gap with love and care.