By JENNIFER YARIMA

The rising number of deaths from sickle cell anemia is alarming and calls for caution and attention. Sadly, these deaths are mostly recorded among young and promising youth with very bright future. You often wonder why the disease and its effects are on the rise in this computer age where every individual is expected to be knowledgeable about these things.

According to medical experts, sickle cell anemia can be prevented as much as possible, even totally eradicated. That is, if necessary precautionary steps are taken and strictly adhered to. But why is this disease on the increase, instead of declining? The answer is not far-fetched. To start with, sickle cell anemia is a hereditary disease that affects the white blood cells, making them have the shape of a sickle and porous enough for other diseases to come in and attack the anti-bodies.

Recognized by the United Nations (UN), the annual commemoration of World Sickle Day aims to raise global awareness about the disease. A resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 22, 2008, recognized sickle cell disease as a public health problem and “one of the world’s most devastating genetic diseases.” The resolution urges member states to promote sickle cell disease awareness nationally and internationally on June 19 each year.

World Sickle Cell Day is a significant occasion as it raises awareness by educating the public about Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), its symptoms and the challenges faced by patients, as the disease can be relatively unknown outside affected communities. It also provides a platform for advocacy, enabling SCD organizations and patients’ advocates to lobby for increased research funding, improved access to health care and better treatment options.

People living with this infirmity are said to possess genotype of SS. It is hereditary in the sense that if both parents are SS, they will definitely give birth to children with the same genotype. Or if both of them have the genotype of AS, then they would definitely have an offspring with the disease. Even at a young age, people need to get themselves tested to be able to ascertain what genotype they possess.

The negative effects of not knowing one’s genotype might not be immediately discernable. But it definitely becomes prominent later on in life when the issue of marriage and compatibility sets in. Most young people in love ignore details like knowing their genotypes before they get neck deep into their relationships. The danger lies in the fact that they might refuse to part ways, after being so much in  love with each other. In that case, when they get married, there is a high possibility of giving birth to children who will have that ailment and suffer for their parents’ carelessness and stubborness.

Genotype AA, according to health experts, is the universally compatible genotype that can pair up. There is no possibility of them giving birth to a child with sickle cell disease. Intending couples must make sure that they know their genotypes and be sure its compatible for marriage before going ahead to get married.

Research has shown that most people living with sickle cell anemia do not get to live past early adulthood. Unfortunately, even in the long run, there is always a battle to survive. This is referred to as their ‘crisis period’ which puts them in a very pitiable and regrettable health condition. The parents are also not left out as they have to spend huge amounts of their resources in running from one health center to another in a bid to save their children’s lives.

Tragedy recently struck in the University of Jos community when a 400-level student from the Department of Chemistry who had a very promising future passed on as a result of this deadly disease. During his lifetime, the 22-year-old was an excellent student who also engaged in petty businesses to make ends meet.

Not allowing his condition weigh him down, he always prayed and wished for long life. Shortly before his demise, one of his last posts on WhatsApp was a plea to God to heal him and grant him long life. He was very hopeful that he would be counted among the very few survivors of the sickle cell condition who lived long. But, alas, that could not be. He passed on and left behind beautiful, unachieved, dreams.

More needs to be done with respect to creating awareness about the importance of knowing one’s genotype and the consequences of not knowing. This would go a long way in curtailing the rising cases of mortalities as a result of something that could have been avoided at a point in time. Individuals, on the other hand, should make deliberate efforts to visit any health centre near them to ascertain their genotype. As a result, the menace will be reduced to its barest minimum, even subsequently eradicated from our communities.

Also, religious leaders need to be involved in the enlighenment campaign about this life threatening condition. Traditional rulers, likewise, have crucial roles to play in this regard as some of those suffering from sickle cell anemia are assumed to be suffering from withcraft attacks and are, therefore, stigmatized. All hands must be on deck to safe unborn children from this traumatizing, hereditary, condition. Young adults need to have this requisite knowledge from home to avoid future regrets.

Israel/Hamas war: The United Nations’ double standards

By KENNETH DARENG

On October 7, almost a year ago, the world watched in shock as 3000 Hamas-led terrorists massacred young men, women, children, old and sick people in cold blood when they launched a surprise attack on Israel. The militants had breached the Gaza-Israel barrier and also launched thousands of rockets into Israel.

Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and most western countries, is backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. On that fateful day, its well-armed members stormed civilian Israeli communities, raped women and killed hundreds. That attack left over 3,400 wounded with 247 soldiers among the hundreds of hostages taken into Gaza.

That attack drew global condemnation while the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Natenyahu, quickly assembled a war cabinet and launched a counter-attack. It is worthy of note that the Hamas assault is considered the bloodiest in Israeli history since the Holocaust.

Since the outbreak of the war, countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom and other European countries have supported Israel and emphasized the fact that Israel has the right to defend itself from the barbaric attacks orchestrated by Hamas over the years.

Israel has vowed to defeat Hamas and ensure the release of the hostages still being held by the militants in different locations within Gaza and Rafah where thousands of tunnels connected to hospitals, refugee camps and residential buildings were used to launch rockets.

The conflict is very complex  considering the fact that Hamas has been using the dense civilian population as human shields which has caused so much collateral destruction of human lives and property on the Palestinian population.

The war has brought with it heavy civilian casualties on both sides. But with the heaviest toll has been on the Gazans who will have to bear the massive destruction that has left the entire Gaza in ruins. There is no potable water, no electricity supply while the supply of food and medical supplies have been severely restricted by the war.

However, the world seems to have forgetten so easily what it means for Israel to be surrounded by hostile neighbours whose only aim is to annihilate the Jewish state from the face of the earth.

The role the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, under Secretary General Antonio Gutterres, has so far played indicates that it has already taken sides with the Palestinians. But, at the beginning of the war, this same UNGA had acknowledged the fact that Hamas is aterrorist organisation and that the world must do everything possible not to allow it endanger the peace and stability of the Middle–East. Interestingly, that initial posture has now given way to speaking from both sides of the mouth. The United Nations has now thrown objectivity to the winds by closing its eyes to the role of Hamas as a terrorist organization whose only ideology is to exterminate a particular people using whatever means possible.

This double standards of the UN has paved way for the passage of several resolutions condemning Israel and even instigated and lobbied some member nations to join in dragging Israel to the International Criminal Court [ICC] in the Hague.

But it was quite commendable that at the recent meeting of the General Assembly held at the request of the leaders of the European Union and the New Arab Block, the representative of Israel at the UN, Miriam Novak, took a swipe at the UN body and reminded members about how the world has been unkind to Israel in the midst of provocations, threats and unwarranted attacks.

Novak said: ”Ladies and gentlemen, as you all know, eighty years ago, Europe, led by Germany carried out  an ethnic purge. It exterminated all the Jews who lived in there. French, Belgians, Dutch, Norwegians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Poles,, Lithuanians, Ukrainians- all helped the facists.

”You killed at least six million Jews, including new born babies each of them could have given the world children, grandchildren, so you can multiply the number of those killed by four or five….

”And now, when we are again plundered, beaten and killed in all your countries, and your courts release the murderers, you tell us that we have no right to defend ourselves? We have no right to warn our enemies that we will respond to a new ethnic cleansing with an even powerful strike?

”Perhaps you can name another nation whose extermination is so fanatically sought by your new Iranian-led International community? And why?

”For two thousand years, we have lived among you, offering you our knowledge, discoveries and inventions. We have given you the alphabet, the Bible, the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, the apostles, Spinoza, Disraeli, Columbus, Newton, Heine, Mendelssohn, Nostradamus, Einstein, Marcel Maceau, Barbra Streisand, Paul Newman, Mark Zuckerberg, Lloyd Webber among other thousands of  other scientists and educators….

”Finally, in June 2020, the Rev, John Hagee, the leader of American Evangelical Christians, published his ”Appeal to the world,” in which he said simply and clearly, ” Why do we 8million patriotic American Christians, support Israel? Because God is on Israel’s side. If a Christian says he doesn’t like the Jews then his Christianity is dubious. God says, ”I will bless those who bless Israel, I will curse those who curse Israel.”

Today, the echoes of these breathtaking words from Miriam Novak should be a wake-up call to the entire membership of the UN and indeed the rest of the world that we cannot set rules for ourselves and shred the same rules through our selfish ideological differences and selfish interests.

The aim of the founding fathers of the UN was to advance global peace and unite the various peoples that make up the global community by calling to attention those who think that they have the monopoly to cause mayhem and expect that justice is given them.

The UN must respect its own rules and play the role of an unbiased arbiter in crisis situations and not play to the gallery as middlemen whose only interest is acting the script of certain unseen hands. A conflict in Sudan or in Afghanistan or in Ukraine should be treated within the same threshold so as to maintain respect and be taken seriously by all members of the global community.