MOH & Novartis sign MOU on treatment of Sickle Cell Disease at World Economic Forum, 2019
On Thursday, 24th January 2019, on the sidelines of the 2019 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a joint press conference by the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service, other allied agencies, and global medicines company, Novartis, to announce a new public-private partnership to improve diagnosis and accelerate treatment for people with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD).
The GoG-Novartis partnership is the first by an African country to commit to offering the global standard of care for people with Sickle Cell Disease, and aims among others, to improve and extend the lives of people with SCD through a comprehensive approach to screening and diagnosis, especially newborn babies.
It is estimated that 15,000 babies are born with sickle cell disease every year in Ghana.
Hon Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Minister for Health; Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Director General of the Ghana Health Service; and Prof Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, President of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Ghana and Programme Coordinator of the Newborn Screening Programme for Sickle Cell Disease, participated in the presser on behalf of their various organisations, while Vas Narasimhan, CEO, represented Novartis.