Following years of research and planning, the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) has successfully launched a bone marrow transplant programme for people with sickle cell disease (SCD).

The new programme would allow people with SCD to locally access a bone marrow transplant via a procedure that involves replacing the patient’s diseased stem cells with healthy ones from a matched family donor.

It is the country’s first locally available bone marrow transplant programme for treating sickle cell disease.

According to a statement jointly signed by the hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Wasiu Adeyemo, a professor, and the National Director/CEO of Sickle Cell Foundation, Annette Akinsete, the programme is an initiative of the two institutions.

The statement noted that the teaching hospital and SCFN decided to introduce the initiative after identifying existing gaps in the treatment of sickle cell disease patients in the country.

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