Mrs Janet Ohene-Frempong, wife of the late Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) Expert, Prof Kwaku Ohene-Frempong has donated items to two sickle cell clinics at two health facilities in Ghana.
The facilities are the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (GARH). Items presented included stationery and refreshment for the children attending the clinic.
The donation which was in honour of her late husband was also to contribute to the sickle cell community to commemorate this year’s World Sickle Cell Day (WSCD).
WSCD is marked on 19th June every year ever since it was officially designated by the UN in December 2008. It was first commemorated in June 2009 to increase public knowledge and understanding of sickle cell disease and related conditions, and the challenges experienced by patients, their families, and healthcare providers.
Presenting the items, Mrs Ohene-Frempong said she and her late husband knew the challenges and pain of living with SCD as their son was born with the disease.
As such, she said until the passing of her late husband, he devoted 50 years of his medical career doing his best to take care of persons with the disease.
“Prof Ohene-Frempong is no longer here with us. But I am. And I will work along with many others to see that persons living with SCD get the quality of care they deserve.”
“With screening for early detection and with the provision of affordable hydroxyurea and other disease-modifying medications, we can make life better for thousands of people. This, in turn, can give people hope for when a safe, accessible, and affordable cure becomes available,” she stated.
Mrs Ohene-Frempong also used the opportunity to urge all and sundry to honour each other.
President of the Sickle Cell Association of Ghana, GARH Chapter, Awo Twumasi said the items would go a long way to minimise the stress children who might be in distress or experiencing an SCD crisis when would experience whenever they visited the SCD clinic.
She said they were reminded of Prof Ohene-Frempong’s tireless body of work to improve the quality of lives of people with SCD.
“His motivation reaffirms our commitment to stay the course of improving the lives of people with SCD by keeping the flame alive through the advancement of newborn Screening in Ghana and strengthening our partnerships with Global healthcare organizations to make available the best treatment therapies like Hydroxyurea and related options to people with sickle cell disease,” he added.
Prof. Ohene-Frempong was well known in the global sickle cell disease community for his tireless efforts in advocating for persons living with sickle cell disease.
He brought hope to many in the sickle cell disease community, especially in his homeland Ghana. His vision was to get every child in Ghana screened at birth and if diagnosed positive, start early treatment to live a full and healthy life.
Popularly known in the sickle cell community as KOF, Prof. Ohene-Frempong introduced to Africa and Ghana the method of newborn screening in sickle cell disease which has and continues to benefit thousands of families with sickle cell disease.
Not only did he introduce and led in the implementation of newborn screening for sickle cell disease in Ghana. Prof Ohene-Frempong, through his long history with the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America (SCDAA), developed a relationship with Novartis, which resulted in the implementation of Hydroxyurea Therapy for a large number of persons with sickle cell disease in Ghana and the establishment of 12 new Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Centers in Regional Hospitals in Ghana.