Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder that affects red blood cells. Up to 30% of people of African descent carry the gene for Sickle Cell disease. And it is not an uncommon disease in Haiti. Unfortunately, sickle cell disease is very serious and often causes significant complications such as chronic anemia, pain crises, serious infections, infarction of the spleen, acute chest syndrome and stroke. Proper management of sickle cell disease is imperative to avoid complications and to treat them. Patients with sickle cell disease will require blood transfusions throughout their life, and blood transfusions are not so easy to come by in Haiti.

In January, a 34 month old girl, Claudemie, came to clinic. She had severe anemia that did not respond to iron replacement therapy. A screen for sickle cell disease was positive. So we referred her to a children’s hospital that has a treatment program for sickle cell disease. Unfortunately, she came back the following week. Her mother had taken her to the hospital, however, she said she was told they couldn’t help her and to come back to our clinic. The patient’s anemia had worsened in severity over the week and she now had a fever. So I called a hospital pediatrician at Partners in Health in Mirebalais which is further from us than Port au Prince. The pediatrician said the hospital was full, but to send the patient to the emergency department and she would be taken care of. So, Guy, the driver for Real Hope for Haiti, drove the patient to Mirebalais.

Claudemie returned to our clinic on January 28^th. She had been hospitalized, received multiple blood transfusions and was doing fantastic. She was so sick on the day she went to Mirebalais. The transformation from the little girl who was transferred to the hospital on January 12^th and the little girl who came to clinic on January 28^th was amazing! Praise be to God!