Sickle Cell Patients Endure Pain, Discrimination - Report

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Africans who have the blood disorder sickle cell anemia met this week in the northern Cameroon town of Garoua to step up an awareness campaign.

One hundred people with sickle cell from Cameroon and five other African countries sit and talk at the Garoua market square in northern Cameroon.

They say their aim is to educate people about sickle cell, an inherited, generally incurable disease that causes tiredness, swelling of the hands and feet, vision problems, and episodes of severe pain.

The patients want to end superstitions about the disease and stop doctors from pushing harmful practices like bloodletting and concoctions that will supposedly fix their blood.

Among the patents here is 26-year old Hayatou Alimatu who lost two children to the disease.

She came out today with her only surviving child, an eight year old girl who also has sickle cell.

Painkillers are expensive, and she hopes to one day take the child to a developed country in the hopes of getting more advanced treatment that could improve her quality of life.

She said her daughter normally gets outstanding grades at school and her averages grades are at the top. When she has severe episodes, known as crises, her grades drop.