Original version

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

Health Check

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Health issues and medical breakthroughs from around the world.

No Master Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC Afghan Radio

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Health Check: Sickle cell disease: Fighting for the future

Magazines & Reviews

GettyImages-1133641520.jpg

2023/07/12 GMT

Sickle cell disease: Fighting for the future

BBC World Service - Health Check, Sickle cell disease: Fighting for the future

Better care for people with Sickle Cell Disease after figures reveal its global impact

Global burden of Sickle Cell Disease; Treating African Sleeping Sickness; Companionship Alzheimer's project; Continuing to learn new skills with Dementia.

“Sickle cell is not all that we are – Sickle Cell is solvable.” Lea Kilenga Bey from Kenya founded the non-profit Africa Sickle Cell Organisation to campaign on behalf of people like her who live with an inherited blood condition known as sickle cell disease. Now a group of experts from around the world are calling on Governments to provide better care for people with conditions like Lea’s. It comes just weeks after a study published in academic journal The Lancet Haematology showed that the number of people around the world who die with sickle cell disease could be as much as 11 times higher than previously estimated. Claudia Hammond speaks to Lea and hears from Professor Jennifer Knight-Madden in Jamaica where pioneering research has led to a newborn screening programme that helps to diagnose and treat Sickle Cell Disease in babies.

Side by Side is a pilot initiative led by the Alzheimer’s Society in the UK, pairing up volunteers with people living with dementia based on their common interests. It’s how David met Simon, who learnt he had Alzheimer’s disease during the Covid 19 lockdown. We hear from David, Simon, and Simon’s wife Ruth about the pair’s weekly walks and how they have helped Simon come to terms with his diagnosis.

And Claudia is joined by Consultant in public health Dr Ike Anya. They discuss new research on living with dementia including a study that suggests resistance training might delay the onset of symptoms in people with Alzheimer’s. There’s an early breakthrough in finding a treatment for parasitic born African Trypanosomiasis or Sleeping Sickness. And the researchers combining health education with street theatre in Malawi. How an interactive performance involving “infectious” beach balls transmitted by a giant Tsetse fly is teaching people about catching Sleeping Sickness.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond 
Producer: Clare Salisbury

Image credit: Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Health Check

Sickle cell disease: Fighting for the future

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

About BBC World Service