… Seeks Law Making Genotype Test Compulsory For Intending Couple
By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
A professor of Biophysical Chemistry, Prof. Najeem Babarinde, has raised the alarm that Nigeria has been reckoned as the global epicentre of sickle cell anaemia following her surging population.
Prof. Babarinde said research puts the birth figure in the country as falling between 100,000 to 150,000 sickle – celled babies every year, warning that the number represents about 30% of the annual global sickle cell birth rate.
•Prof. Najeem Babarinde
Worried that about 50 to 80% of the estimated 150,000 infants born yearly in Nigeria with sickle cell disease die before they attained age five, he urged the Nigerian government to make pre -marital Genotype Compatibility Test (GCT) compulsory for intending couple to avert the huge health burden the disease presents to a nation, family and individual.
The lecturer who made this known while delivering his lecture titled, ‘The Molecules Within Us: Structure, Survival and Society,’ on Tuesday during the 113th inaugural lecture of the state – owned Olabisi Onabanjo University OOU Ago Iwoye, also seeks enactment of an enabling law to make pre-marital GCT compulsory.
Prof. Babarinde said that a compulsory GCT if introduced by the States and federal government would ensure that no child would be born with sickle cell anaemia.
He added that it would also checkmate the criminal and unethical practice of child swapping in the labour room by unscrupulous paramedics.
“Government should make the pre-marital Genotype Compatibility Test (GCT) compulsory. A law should be enacted to make the pre -marital Genotype Compatibility Test compulsory. Such genotype compatibility tests will ensure that children suffering from sickle cell anaemia are not born,” he said.
•Picture illustration: Youths creating sickle cell anaemia awareness campaign on Nigeria
