Accra - An international symposium aimed at addressing problems associated with the sickle cell disease is to be held in Accra between the 26th and 28th of this month.

Dr. Emmanuel Mensah, Director General of the Ghana Health Service, disclosed this during a briefing at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital recently.

In his address, Dr. Mensah revealed that more than 200,000 babies are born with the sickle cell disease in Africa each year, and about 98% of children with the disease in rural areas, do not live beyond five years of age.

According to him, a high percentage of these children die without ever having a proper diagnosis of the disease, let alone receive appropriate care.

This, he says, is due to the establishment of sickle cell programmes by very few African countries.

According to Dr. Mensah, one of the effective ways of combating the disease could be the introduction of sickle cell awareness subjects in schools, in order to make children aware of the disease as early as possible.

Mrs. Jemima Antwi, a Health Education specialist, disclosed that the possibility of a couple with the sickle cell reproducing sickle cell children is by chance.

She added that the chances of survival increases with age of the child, but is greater if the child is diagnosed early enough.