Sickle Cell: Don Seeks Legislation for  Pre-marital Genotype Test in Nigeria

James Sowole  in Abeokuta

A professor of Biophysical Chemistry at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye,  Ogun State, Najeem Babarinde,  has called on governments to enact lawthat would make pre-marital Genotype Compatibility Test (GCT) compulsory in Nigeria.

The  pre-marital GCT, according to the professor, becomes imperative, in order to check the  alarming rate  at which children were being born  with sickle cell.
Babarinde  made the call as part of his recommendations at the 113th OOU Inaugural  Lecture, he delivered, at the institution.

The lecturer expressed concern that Nigeria had been reckoned to be the global epicentre of sickle cell anaemia following her surging population.
According to the university don, research puts the birth figure in the country as between 100,000 to 150,000 sickle – celled babies every year. He expressed  concern that the number represented about 30 per cent of the annual global sickle cell birth rate.

He said, “A law should be enacted to make  pre-marital GCT compulsory. Such genotype compatibility tests will ensure that children suffering from sickle cell anaemia are not born.”
He also expressed worries that about 50 to 80 per cent of the estimated 150,000 infants born yearly in Nigeria with sickle cell disease die before they attained age five.

The lecture entitled,  “Survival and Society,’ attracted members of academic  community from within and outside OOU, principal officers of the school, traditional rulers, students and friends of the lecturer.
Babarinde explained that a compulsory GCT would ensure that children with sickle cell anaemia were not born.

He added that it would also checkmate the criminal and unethical practice of child swapping in the labour room by unscrupulous paramedics.