Successful Field Test of a Combined Health Access Strategy and Novel Device to Screen for Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa

In conclusion, a multidisciplinary consortium has achieved the first validation of a low-cost simple point of care test to diagnose SCD in a rural area of a developing nation and has demonstrated the ability of dental services to facilitate such screening. Offsetting the theoretical concern that the MPANA test might not detect SCD in neonates and young infants due to their high hemoglobin F content are the advantages that our SCD screening strategy is low cost, primarily utilizes local resources and immediately delivers positive subjects to care interventions (which could be anything in addition to or other than SCD screening). It is therefore amenable to scaling up for widespread application.Acknowledgments: The Provincial and District Offices, Rural Health Centers and communities that granted permissions and participated in this study.Author Contributions: Contributed equally to the work - CMCL,AAK,TPSConflict-of-interest disclosure: Competing financial interests declared.Correspondence: Catherine Chunda-Liyoka, e-mail: [e-mail]: Harvard University: Patents & Royalties: I am an inventor on patents for the underlying technology and the patent has been assigned to Harvard.. Humpton: Nano Terra, Inc.: Employment. Whitesides: Harvard University: Patents & Royalties: Harvard holds patents for this work. Stossel: Harvard University: Patents & Royalties: Co-inventor on MPANA patent. No royalties.

Source: Blood - November 21, 2018 Category: Hematology Authors: Chunda-Liyoka, C. M., Kumar, A. A., Sambo, P. M., Lubinda, F., Humpton, T., Okuku, P., Miyanda, C., Mulindwa, J., Im I, J., Maguire, K., Whitesides, G. M., Stossel, T. P. Tags: 901. Health Services Research-Non-Malignant Conditions: Sickle Cell Disease Source Type: research