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Adelard Kakunze: Changing the Future of Sickle Cell Disease in Africa

Adelard Kakunze/LinkedIn

May 20, 2026, 15:11

Adelard Kakunze: Changing the Future of Sickle Cell Disease in Africa

Adelard Kakunze, Senior Technical Officer – NCDs, Injuries and Mental Health at Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), shared a post on LinkedIn:

”The validation of the Africa CDC Continental Plan for Sickle Cell Disease and Other Inherited Blood Disorders is deeply personal to me.

For years, I have witnessed the immense physical pain, emotional distress, and financial hardship that children living with sickle cell disease (SCD) and their families endure across Africa.

Yet Africa continues to carry the world’s highest burden, with the majority of the 300,000+ babies born annually with SCD globally born on the continent, while up to 90% of affected African children still die before age five.

From 11–13 May in Kampala, 50 African Union Member States united behind one continental plan to change this narrative as we advance the Africa Health Security and Sovereignty Agenda.

This Plan moves us beyond fragmented pilot projects toward coordinated, scalable, and evidence-based interventions that save lives with ambitious targets by 2035, including screening 70% of newborns and ensuring that at least 90% of children with SCD survive beyond age five.

Just days after we left Uganda, the country reported its first Ebola case, a reminder that Africa faces multiple public health threats at once.

Yet Uganda and the DRC have repeatedly demonstrated strong leadership in managing outbreaks, and I have no doubt they will respond effectively once again while we continue strengthening systems for both emergencies and long-neglected conditions like SCD and other inherited blood disorders.”

Adelard Kakunze: Changing the Future of Sickle Cell Disease in Africa