The Sickle Cell Unit

The Sickle Cell Unit (SCU) is an establishment at the University of the West Indies whose mission is "improving lives through clinical care, education and research". It is the only specialised centre for the care of persons with sickle-cell disease (SCD) in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean. It is also a world-renowned unit for research in SCD.

The SCU provides a clinical service (Monday to Friday) for patients with sickle-cell disease and sees more than 5,300 patients yearly.

Some of the services offered at the SCU are:

• Regular health check-up visits
• Immunisations, for example, pneumococcal
• Counselling
• Eight-bed day unit for treating emergencies and severe pain
• Outreach clinics at Black River Hospital and Cornwall Regional Hospital monthly
• Laboratory services (including tests to diagnose SCD)
• Special tests such as lung-function tests and Trans-Cranial Doppler Ultrasound (used to identify children at high risk for stroke)

Since 1995, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, the SCU screens babies born at Victoria Jubilee, University and Spanish Town hospitals for sickle-cell disease. The early-childhood period (five years and under) is the greatest risk period for death from SCD.

Early diagnosis of SCD from birth allows simple treatments to be started, which have led to significant reductions in early-childhood deaths.

The unit identifies 50 babies each year with the disease.

WHAT'S NEW IN SCD

The SCU, Ministry of Health and Sickle Cell Trust are working together to ensure that in the near future all public hospitals test babies at birth for SCD as well as to improve health services for patients with SCD across all health regions in Jamaica.