Sickle Cell: O5 Initiative partners int’l organisations on management of scourge

Wife of Delta State Governor and Founder of O5 Initiative, Dame Edith Okowa, on Wednesday said the Initiative would partner individuals and organisations in the management and treating of sickle cell to minimise its impact in families and society.

Okowa made this known at a news briefing in Asaba, on the activities of O5 Initiative, especially its presentation at the recent United Nations General Assembly in New York.

She said that the Initiative had established 12 sickle cell clinics in public hospitals across the state and equipped them with modern facilities and genetic counsellors and medical doctors.

She disclosed that at the UN event, O5 Initiative’s "modest efforts’’ in tackling the sickle cell in the state caught the interest of some organizations and individuals who expressed intention to do same in their countries.

“A major outcome of our UN presentation is the expressed desire of Initiative for Global Development, a Non-Governmental Organisation, to partner O5 Initiative.

"Their interest is centred on digitising our sickle cell clinics across the state. This will generate critical data in the management of sickle cell patients” Okowa said.

She debunked media reports that some financial commitment had been made by an international organisation to her Initiative, saying “I want to state categorically that no memorandum of understanding has been signed and no financial commitment has been made’’.

She listed some achievements of the Initiative as provision of welfare packages to prison inmates, empowerment of no fewer than 2,500 Delta women, medical outreach to over 26,000 Deltans, settlement of hospital bills for indigent citizens, provision of shelter for the homeless and feeding the poor.

Mrs Okowa who was flanked by Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu and Director-General, O5 Initiative Mrs Kevwe Agas, commended various public and private individuals and organisations for their support to her project.

She called for more collaboration between her group and agencies and organisations to improve the lots of the less-privileged in the society.