Sickle cell knowledge, premarital screening and marital decisions among local government workers in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract

BackgroundIn Nigeria, as in the rest of equatorial Africa, sickle cell disease (SCD) has its highest incidence and continues to cause high morbidity and early death. The condition is a major public health problem among the black race. The aim of this survey is to determine the level of knowledge about SCD and the factors associated with its prevention among local government workers in Ile-Ife.MethodThis is a cross-sectional descriptive study of the knowledge about SCD, attitude towards premarital sickle cell screening and marital decisions among local government workers in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, using a self-administered questionnaire.Results69% of study subjects had poor knowledge of SCD, while attitude towards premarital screening was favourable in 95% of the study subjects. Knowledge and attitude were significantly better among subjects with tertiary education. There was a strong positive association between attitude towards sickle cell screening and a history of undergoing screening or partner screening. Most (86.7%) of the respondents and 74.0% of their partners have had sickle cell screening. One-quarter of married and engaged respondents did not know their partner's sickle cell status. One-third to two-thirds of study subjects will continue the relationship with their partner when either or both have haemoglobinopathy.ConclusionThis study showed poor knowledge of SCD among the studied subjects. There is a need for more emphasis on health education through programmes promoting sickle cell education. In addition, the development of multifaceted patient and public health education programmes, the intensification of screening for the control of SCD by heterozygote detection, particularly during routine preplacement and premarital medical examinations, and the provision of genetic counselling to all SCD patients and carriers are vital to the identification and care of the couples at risk. These will enhance the capacity of the intending couples to make informed decisions and be aware of the consequences of such decisions. Policies are needed to ensure easily accessible community-wide sickle cell screening and premarital and genetic counselling to achieve the desired decline in new births of children with SCD.

Awareness of Sickle Cell Trait Status: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Antenatal Women in Ghana

“…13 More recent studies have also consistently reported poor knowledge of SCD. 14,15 Awareness of SCT status was good in this study (87.3%) and reflected the finding of Siddiqui and others, who found that 93% of his group of AfricanAmericans in New York City was aware of their trait status. 16 These findings may reflect lack of knowledge for those individuals who have not had a child with SCD and thus may have limited information about sickle cell.…”

“…14,19 Participants who were aware of their SCT status were more knowledgeable about SCT even though those who knew they had the trait did not score significantly higher than those who did not know. This is also reflected in the study among the tertiary students in Nigeria.…”

Sickle Cell Gene Transmission: Do Public Servants in Tamale, Ghana Have the Right Knowledge and Attitude to Curb It?

“…Similar poor attitudes towards SCD were reported in Oman, US and Nigeria [12] [14] [20]. Age, gender, religious affiliation just as reported in other countries did not influence a person's attitude towards SCD [16] [21] [22]. Several reasons could be responsible for the poor attitude of respondents in this study despite their moderate knowledge level.…”

“…Ghana, being a secular country permits free discussion of issues of sexuality in the mass media unlike in Islamic states of Saudi Arabia and Oman. The moderate overall knowledge score of 50.7% is higher than those recorded among Nigerian local government workers in Ile Ife and youth corps in Lagos[16] [17]. Other studies in the UK and Nigeria recorded higher knowledge level between 75% -86%[7] [18]…”

Distribution of haemoglobin genotypes, knowledge, attitude and practices towards sickle cell disease among unmarried youths in the Buea Health District, Cameroon

“…These results concurred with that of previous studies conducted in USA, Nigeria and Ghana [ 11 , 21 , 25 ]. However, these results were contrary to those of other studies which either showed poor knowledge of SCD among youths [ 5 , 13 , 18 , 26 , 27 ] or good knowledge of SCD among youths [ 19 , 22 , 23 ]. Participants who had a higher level of education (secondary and tertiary education) and who had been exposed to formal learning on SCD had significantly higher knowledge scores (p < 0.05).…”