Sickle Cell Anaemia - Research Paper Example

? Sickle Cell Anaemia Task Chapter 4 Sickle cell anaemia is a disease that is genetic and one that leads to blood disorder and usually transferred during birth. Several factors indeed affect pregnant women who have the sickle cell trait or who have the disease and the factors are, fear anxiety and level of education. Most pregnant women fear telling their husbands that they should go, be screened, and would rather give birth to children who have sickle cell anaemia. The contributory factor to sickle cell anaemia is the fact that most people lack education about the disease and so are not aware about it. Most people do not know the difference between the sickle cell disease and the sickle cell trait and instead they ignore all this and discover only after the baby has been screened and found to have the trait or the disease. If the mothers were aware about the sickle cell anaemia, they would go for screening but for most mothers they are not aware of the disease and they therefore cannot be educated on how to take care of themselves and their children when it comes to anaemia. Sickle cell anaemia has been said to be mostly evident in African- American women. The interview taken showed that most of them were not aware that the disease is most prominent among them and they were not aware of what to do if they are found to be having the said disease. The demographics of the sample show that most of the women who were interviewed are paid below 50,000 dollars. An interview should have been conducted that shows the search relating to those women who are paid above 50,000 dollars in order to reflect how poverty contributes to the disease. This would have shown if most of the women who are paid over 50,000 dollars have been screened and if they aware about the disease or if it is just a matter of ignorance from everyone. The sample was only focused on African -American women who earned less than 50,000 dollars. It would have been widened to include women who were not African-American so that it can be shown that the disease is mainly prone to African-American women. This would have created the distinction between other ethnic groups and tribes and the African- American women. The sample indeed showed that most of the pregnant women were not aware about the disease but this could be so because they do not receive any education regarding the disease and therefore get into relationships without knowing if they have the disease or not. Others choose not to share such information to their partners out of fear of what would happen if they gave out such information. It has been said that most of the women fear telling their husbands that they have the disease. A sample of husbands who have sickle cell or those whose children have sickle cell should also have been included to see if they are aware of how the disease is transferred. Ignorant husband are also a contributory factor to the spread of the disease. If you take an example of the men who have sickle cell anaemia, a fraction of the men would have portrayed that most of them did not share with their wives the fact that they had anaemia. Another study would have been carried out for those husbands who did have the sickle cell disease to reflect whether they shared the fact to their wives and if they shared it what precautions they took. The spouse’s ignorance too, leads to the spread of the disease as much as it is a disease that is rampant among pregnant mothers. The knowledge of one of the spouses would have contributed a great deal if they shared the fact to their partners. Since their partners do not want to tell their wives that, they have sickle cell anaemia and on the other hand, the wives fear telling their husbands this leads to a situation where the disease is only discovered while giving birth. A sample of the children with anaemia should have been taken to reveal whether the children are aware of the disease or for those who have it whether they are on medication or if they are on treatment for the same. A great risk is posed for children who were born before the mandatory screening of newborn babies was introduced. This is because there are children who could be having the disease and yet they are not aware about it they only come to know about it after they started experiencing pains on their body and for some of the children the pains are ignored until a time when they become severe. The people who are at risk have been said to be mothers and children but a sample of the children was not interviewed to establish whether they know anything about the sickness or to know if they have any infection because they are the ones at the highest risk. Chapter 5 Introduction Knowledge of sickle cell anaemia goes a long way in assisting both parents and children with the disease. Lack of education about the disease makes it difficult for them to receive medication early enough (Steinberg, 2011). The lack of education leads to a wide spread of the disease as most of the children and mothers do not know whether they have the frank disease or a trait. As it has been seen lack of awareness, lack of education, poverty and fear are the major contributors to the spread of sickle cell anaemia. There should be a day reserved as a sickle cell awareness day whereby people are encouraged to go for screening and they are given free education about the disease. Education about sickle cell should be encouraged by everyone, people who are not educated about sickle cell anaemia are at the risk of having partners who have the disease or they are likely to get involved with partners who suffer from sickle cell anaemia without knowing. It is only with knowledge that one can be informed to the point of knowing that screening is necessary to prove whether you or your partner are affected or not. With this information, a mother can be able to know what to do when she is expectant. With the knowledge of the disease one can even attend counselling to be guided on the way forward. An expectant mother who possesses the knowledge about sickle cell will know that she has to go for pre-natal examination during the first two months of her pregnancy so that it can be established whether the child she is expecting will have the sickle cell or it will have the sickle cell disease and ways of having a healthy pregnancy. Without this Knowledge, a mother with sickle-cell anaemia cannot be able to undergo monitoring to ensure that she has a healthy pregnancy. Women with the sickle cell disease usually have problems during pregnancy that can harm the health of their baby or that of their expectant mother (Dyson et al, 2006). It is therefore very necessary for such mothers to visit their care providers regularly so that these facts can be made known to her. If a mother is not informed or lacks knowledge, she is prone to several complications that are not healthy for the baby. A mother who has sickle cell anaemia is likely to experience severe pains during birth and the child has a high chance of becoming underweight. If the parents do not know this, they will not take the necessary precautions that will assist to ensure a healthy birth. Poverty is another factor that contributes to the increase of sickle cell anaemia. This is seen in a case whereby a mother who has sickle cell anaemia is not able to go for screening and the only time screening is done is when she has given birth to her baby and that is where she discovers that she has sickle cell anaemia. Poverty hampers the reduction of sickle cell as one cannot go for regular monitoring and a mother is not able to know whether her child will be born with the sickle cell trait or the disease (Dyson et al, 2006). Fear as a theme comes in whereby both partners do not want to reveal their status to each other. As the study showed, most women would prefer giving birth to an infected child and undergoing all the complications instead of telling their spouses their condition. This fear is what makes a person not to be able to go for screening (Vedro & Morrison, 2002), as they will not know what to do after they have been tested and would rather just keep it to themselves. Some of the individuals in a relationship fear that their spouse would leave them if they discovered that they were having the sickle cell disease. A person’s level of education could also lead to the spread of the disease. As shown in the sample most of the mothers are still students, others are in high school, and so they are not able to know much about the sickle anaemia instead it just becomes a name that they have heard. Anxiety is whereby a mother does not know what will happen to the child when they are giving birth and so they get nervous. This leads to stress which in the end could affect the baby. Limitations The major limitation to awareness and healthy pregnancy is the lack of education. Lack of education makes someone ignorant that they do not even know whether they have the disease or not. This could lead to both partners having sickle cell anaemia and yet they are not aware about it making their child to contract the sickle cell disease. Fear is another factor: most people express the fear of their partners leaving them if they discovered that they had sickle cell anaemia and they therefore do not prefer to go for screening at all. Poverty also comes in whereby a person cannot afford regular monitoring and regular visits to her medical provider. One is not able to go for counselling when it is important for a person to go for counselling. Counselling helps one to know how the disease is likely to affect her and to provide her with relevant family planning information (Vedro & Morrison, 2002). Counselling will be able to make one know if one of them has sickle cell, it could be transmitted to the child and they will be able to come up with informed decisions. Poverty is also the reason among several other that could lead to lack of awareness of the disease. One is not able to know that the sickle cell disease is has more severity than the trait. Not so much information has been given out to the public concerning the disease to the public. The public should be informed about the disease in that this information should be left out to the public to know what they should do and especially the symptoms. Hospitals should take up the role of informing the public about the symptoms as there are those children who were born before the introduction of the mandatory screening and therefore they could discover when the disease has advanced that they had the disease. Parents should particularly be informed about the pneumococcal conjugated vaccine that is important for children who have the sickle cell disease (Vedro & Morrison, 2002). Counselling is a very important aspect of this disease but most people cannot explore it because of poverty. The medical practitioners should also increase awareness to their patients as it has been seen that they are not doing much regarding the education and awareness of their patients (Vedro & Morrison, 2002). Medical practitioners should assist in narrowing the gap between those who know about the disease and those who are not aware about it. It should start from the medical practitioners but most of the findings have shown doctors and nurses have not been participating to ensure that their patients get to know about the disease, its transfer and remedial measures. When it comes to education nothing should be left out all the information regarding sickle cell anaemia should be shared. The education given should be able to reach out to people who do not have the disease so that it can go a long way in the knowledge transfer of the said sickness. Mothers should be told about the disease and they should know that if a mother has sickle cell anaemia it depends on whether it is a sickle cell trait or if it is the sickle cell disease. If it is a trait then there are fewer risks to the baby but if it is the disease then it needs to be discovered and treated at the initial stages as the disease can become complicated to the point that it hampers the flow of oxygen to the foetus causing the baby not to have enough oxygen. Education should assist in convincing both mothers and husbands that it is best to go for treatment so that it can be known which treatment best suits a person (Vedro & Morrison, 2002). Counselling should be given to people who have sickle cell and the various effects and treatment of sickle cell should be told. Nurse should be able to assist such mothers who are about to deliver to go for regular checkups so that it can be established whether the sickness is advancing in either the child or the mother. This will help in treating the sickness before it advances to levels whereby nothing can be done. Nurses should guide mothers on how to handle such children with sickle cell anaemia making then aware that such a child should not be exposed to the cold and about the pains that the child is likely to get out of the disease. This will go a long way in ensuring that the child lives longer and it will also guide the mother to know what to do in cases that she wants to have another child. More work is left to the researchers. They should continue with their research work, which has assisted in helping people realise that Sickle cell anaemia is a disease of the red blood cell, and those who suffer from the disease are protected from malaria because the sickle trait serves as a defensive mechanism against malaria (Dyson et al, 2006). Sickle red blood cell can hamper the flow of blood, which leads to pain in the different parts of the body especially in children. This information has assisted so much and researcher should still come up with new treatment for the sickness. Summary The most important thing to know is that screening should be conducted so that one can know the people who are at risk. Newborn screening will assist in identifying carriers of the sickle cell trait and those carrying the disease. If tests are done earlier, it will lead to effective diagnosis of the sickle cell anaemia. The United States made it mandatory for newborns to be screened; a difficulty arises in children who were born before screening was made mandatory. Patients with the sickle cell disease should be checked regularly so that the detection of the disease can be done early to reduce the spread of the disease. There are different ways in which one could reduce the sickle cell anaemia and that is purely through awareness. It is only through awareness that a patient can be able to know the symptoms of the disease and to detect pain and the development of the disease. Awareness and education is helpful as it goes a long way in assisting someone to know which weather conditions and which temperatures should be avoided. An example is that a person with sickle cell anaemia should not be exposed to cold and windy conditions as it may give rise to pain (Steinberg, 2011). It is only through this education that the patients are able to gather advice on how to stay healthy and receive instructions such as the need to stay hydrated this information is useful for a person who has sickle cell anaemia to be able to take care of them. References Dyson, S. & Gwyneth, B. (2006). “Sickle Cell Anaemia and Deaths in Custody in the UK and the USA”. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, Vol. 45, No. 1, (2006). Steinberg. H. (2011). Sickle cell disease. Retrieved on 14 November 2011 from: Vedro D. & Morrison, R. (2002). What is sickle cell? Retrieved on 14November 2011 from: Read More