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Rabiu Olowo Foundation, CrimsonBow Sponsor Free Clinic For 400 Sickle Cell Carriers

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The CrimsonBow Sickle Cell Initiative and the Rabiu Olowo Foundation on Saturday in Lagos provided free medical care for about 400 carriers as part of activities marking the end of the year 2025.
Speaking at the event, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CrimsonBow, Ms Timi Edwin, said that the initiative provided general health talks, medical consultations, medication, vaccination, routine tests, genotype testing and counselling for persons living with sickle cell.
“Our outreach clinics are monthly and about 400 warriors are here to see a medical doctor, get their routine tests, medications and therapy where necessarily.”
“We have done 10 clinic outreaches this year now and more than 5,000 people living with sickle cell have benefited from our free monthly clinics and getting their medications this year alone.”
“We all know how much medications cost right now, seeing a therapist and running laboratory services, because sickle cell is a burden,” Edwin said.
The founder, who noted that she had been running the foundation for almost 11 years, said that the challenges facing SCD carriers were numerous.
Calling for support from well-meaning Nigerians, Edwin said, “We are also asking the President and State Governments to please help us increase the budget for healthcare across the country.”
Also speaking, Mr George Oche, General Manager, Rabiu Olowo Foundation, said that the foundation’s intervention in sickle cell care was driven by lived experience of it’s founder, also the current Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria.
Oche, representing the founder, said that the foundation—built on three key pillars :Health(sickle cell), Education and Community services is committed to supporting patients and families affected by Sickle Cell Disease.
“As someone living with Sickle Cell Disease himself, our founder has the inspiration and motivation to support this population. We are very keen on collaboration and partnership. For today, this is our first free clinic with the CrimsonBow Sickle Cell Initiative. We are very proud and very excited to support this population.
“We are very keen on reducing, in as much as we want to support warriors, the prevalence of people living with sickle cell disease in Nigeria. We all know that Nigeria holds the global burden. That is why we have rolled out an initiative called 10k GenoTest.
“We are reaching out to 10,000 young people to do free genotype testing and free genotype compatibility awareness.”
“Our main goal is to make sure that we can continue to reduce the prevalence of this disease as well as support people living with sickle cell disease,” Oche said.
The General Manager described living with sickle cell disease as challenging but purposeful, noting that his condition strengthens his resolve to make impact through advocacy, care and community support.
He said that the foundation runs initiatives, including free genotype testing, free health insurance plan support for warriors and awareness outreach programmes, aimed at advocacy and improving the quality of life of patients.
According to him, the foundation’s 10K GenoTest initiative targeting youths with free testing and awareness will help reduce Nigeria’s high sickle cell birth prevalence.
Counselling patients not to give up on life, Dr Pamela Ajayi, Chairman, Bridge Clinic and host of “Doctors on Air,” said that the bone marrow transplant “is no longer something to be avoided and can now be done in Nigeria.”
Ajayi also emphasised the importance of pre-marital and pre-implantation genetic testing, saying that some important new treatments and initiatives are now available in Nigeria.
According to her, since these initiatives are expensive, there is a need for the government to establish special clinics and dedicated funds for SCD carriers.
Dr Ayodele Renner, a consultant paediatrician and child health advocate, described people living with sickle cell as “warriors,” praising their courage and resilience despite daily pain, lifelong medication and emotional challenges.
He urged Nigerians to prioritise genotype testing, warning that many adults marry without knowing their status, thereby increasing the risk of sickle cell disease among children.
Renner called for routine genotype and blood group testing for all children at age one, noting that late diagnosis often leads to severe complications, including anaemia and kidney failure.
He advised diagnosed patients to keep clinic appointments, take prescribed drugs regularly and avoid self-medication, stressing that early hospital care improves survival and quality of life.
Renner said that governments should expand health insurance, subsidise drugs such as Hydroxyurea, support blood services and strengthen sickle cell clinics to reduce financial burdens on affected families.
Beneficiaries, including a 31-year old Miss Bashirat Oyelakin and an 11-year-old Hassanat Adewale, commended the commitment of the CrimsonBow initiative and Rabiu Olowo Foundation to easing the suffering of patients with SCD.
“This kind of gesture is much appreciated all of us living with sickle cell and we are grateful to Rabiu Olowo Foundation and CrimsonBow Initiative for being so caring about us.
“It is not easy living with sickle cell at all.  We have seen doctors here and collected our routine drugs, we are very grateful,” they said.
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