Friday, July 11, 2014

This Week in Sickle Cell News

Hello All!

Health-related stigma consists of social exclusion of individuals and populations who are identified with particular health problems. It is a hidden burden of disease which often stems from misunderstandings about the etiology  and pathophysiology of disease. Health-related stigma can negatively affect  psychological and behavioral responses of both people living with the condition, and the people in their communities.  It also greatly undermines efforts to combat the disease, because it has serious implications for preventive behavior, test and care seeking behavior, quality of care and the perceptions and treatment  of people with the disease by communities, families and partners. 

As is the case for many patients of chronic diseases, sickle cell disease patients are not immune from health related stigma.  In a paper released this week, titled The Measure of Sickle Cell Stigma: Initial findings from the Improving Patient Outcomes through Respect and Trust Study Bediako et al explored the impact of stigma on sickle cell disease related outcomes in a sample of American patients. Their survey found low to medium levels of stigma, which predicated upon frequency of contact with health care systems. 

Assessing the impact of stigma on SCD related outcomes is important, particularly on the African continent which, while having the highest prevalence of the disease globally, still records low levels of awareness about the disease. There is also a lack of comprehensive treatment plans for patients. The stigma faced by sickle cell disease patients on the African continent is also significantly complicated by prevailing superstitions about the disease. Analyzing the Igbo (Nigerian) phenomenom of malevolent ogbanje:  spirit children born weak, chronically ill, and destined to die, Nigerian clinical psychologist Esther Nzewi found that 70 of the 100 children in her study believed to be malevolent ogbanje had sickle cell disease. (See: Malevolent Ogbanje: Recurrent Reincarnation or Sickle Cell Disease?) . 

A comprehensive sickle cell disease treatment strategy for African countries, hence must include not only measures to raise awareness about the disease, but also interventions to reduce stigma, as well as provide patients with support for dealing with the psychosocial stresses that health related stigma engender. As seen with the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the continent, reducing stigma is crucial to combating diseases.

Have a great weekend!

The ASN Team


1 comment:

  1. Irrespective of receiving daily oral or future injectable depot therapies, these require health care visits for medication and monitoring of safety and response. If patients are treated early enough, before a lot of immune system damage has occurred, life expectancy is close to normal, as long as they remain on successful treatment. However, when patients stop therapy, virus rebounds to high levels in most patients, sometimes associated with severe illness because i have gone through this and even an increased risk of death. The aim of “cure”is ongoing but i still do believe my government made millions of ARV drugs instead of finding a cure. for ongoing therapy and monitoring. ARV alone cannot cure HIV as among the cells that are infected are very long-living CD4 memory cells and possibly other cells that act as long-term reservoirs. HIV can hide in these cells without being detected by the body’s immune system. Therefore even when ART completely blocks subsequent rounds of infection of cells, reservoirs that have been infected before therapy initiation persist and from these reservoirs HIV rebounds if therapy is stopped. “Cure” could either mean an eradication cure, which means to completely rid the body of reservoir virus or a functional HIV cure, where HIV may remain in reservoir cells but rebound to high levels is prevented after therapy interruption.Dr Itua Herbal Medicine makes me believes there is a hope for people suffering from,Parkinson's disease,Schizophrenia,Lung Cancer,Breast Cancer,psoriasis,Colo-Rectal Cancer,Blood Cancer,Prostate Cancer,siva.Fatal Familial Insomnia Factor V Leiden Mutation ,Epilepsy Dupuytren's disease,Desmoplastic small-round-cell tumor Diabetes ,Coeliac disease,Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease,Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, Ataxia,Arthritis,Amyotrophic Lateral Scoliosis,Fibromyalgia,Fluoroquinolone Toxicity
    Syndrome Fibrodysplasia Ossificans ProgresSclerosis,Alzheimer's disease,Adrenocortical carcinoma.Asthma,Allergic diseases.Hiv_ Aids,Herpe ,Copd,Glaucoma., Cataracts,Macular degeneration,Cardiovascular disease,Lung disease.Enlarged prostate,Osteoporosis.Alzheimer's disease,
    Dementia.(measles, tetanus, whooping cough, tuberculosis, polio and diphtheria),Chronic Diarrhea,
    Hpv,All Cancer Types,Diabetes,Hepatitis,I read about him online how he cure Tasha and Tara so i contacted him on drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com / . even talked on whatsapps +2348149277967 believe me it was easy i drank his herbal medicine for two weeks and i was cured just like that isn't Dr Itua a wonder man? Yes he is! I thank him so much so i will advise if you are suffering from one of those diseases Pls do contact him he's a nice man.

    ReplyDelete