Welcome to
The Sickle Cell Association of Antigua and Barbuda
The Sickle Cell Association of Antigua and Barbuda is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of Sickle Cell patients and their families in as many ways as possible: medically, personally and on a nation-wide level. We are a small group of patients, families, health care providers and supporters.
We make up for the lack in numbers with enthusiasm, determination and devotion to the cause.
Together We Can!
What is Sickle Cell Disease?
SCD is a blood disorder. Instead of being round and supple, the red blood cells in SCD tend to become half moon-shaped, brittle and sticky. Because of this, they shred fast, causing severe anemia, and they tend to block small blood vessels, thus preventing the flow of blood, oxygen and nutrients to the tissue. When this happens, it causes severe, incapacitating pain and/ or organ damage. Patients are also more susceptible to severe infections than the average population.
How do you get it?
SCD is inherited. People who carry the Sickle Cell Trait can pass on the sickle gene to their children. People with the Sickle Cell Trait do not know that they carry one sickle gene, unless they get tested, because this carrier status does not normally cause any symptoms. If two partners both have the Sickle Cell Trait or if one has the Sickle Cell Trait (HbAS) and the other one has the Hemoglobin C Trait (HbAC), then each of their children has a 25% risk of being born with Sickle Cell Disease (HbSS or HbSC).
Our Partners
We are grateful to the following organizations who have collaborated with us in the past and present:
- American University of Antigua (AUA)
- Caribbean Association of Researchers on Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia (CAREST)
- Dr. R. Dickerhoff, Pediatric hematologist and Sickle Cell researcher
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore
- Medical Association of Antigua and Barbuda (MAAB)
- Mount St. John’s Medical Centre (MSJMC)
- Sickle Cell Unit, Caribbean Institute for Health Research, University of the West Indies
