NYSC coordinator launches foundation to tackle sickle cell in Edo

The Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), in Edo, Mrs Frances Ben-Ushie, on Thursday launched a foundation to advocate for the eradication of sickle cell disorder in Nigeria.

Mrs Ben-Ushie, who is the President/Founder the foundation, said it was aimed to sensitise Nigerians on the dangers of sickle cell disorder, leveraging the spread of corps member volunteers.

The foundation, known as Florish Foundation for Women and Youth, was unveiled at the ongoing orientation for the 2024 Batch C Stream II corps members in the state.

The NYSC coordinator revealed that she was inspired to launch the foundation after discovering that Nigeria had a high prevalence of sickle cell disorder.

“I stumbled into the fact that Nigeria has a lot of people that have sickle cell disorder, and people are still, out of ignorance and carelessness, still having children with the disorder,” she said.

She noted that the foundation would target women and youth, who were the most vulnerable to the disorder.

“So what we are doing is that we want to start from Edo state and move to other areas, South South and other parts of the country,” she said.

Mrs Ben-Ushie emphasised that the foundation would work with NYSC members to carry out the advocacy about the disorder in their respective host communities.

“We have 1,737 corps members for the 2024 batch C stream II orientation, and they will be carrying out the advocacy with the councils, ministries of health and education,” she said.

She noted that the corps members are a good demography to carry out the advocacy, as they are spread across all the 18 local government areas in the state.

The Edo NYSC boss lauded the Director-General of NYSC, the Minister of Youth, and Gov. Monday Okpebholo for their support in launching the foundation.

The birth of the foundation, she said, was as a result of a training on how to set up an NGO organised by the NYSC for some officers in 2022.

Mrs Ben-Ushie explained that the foundation was a private initiative, separate from her role as NYSC Coordinator.

“This is not the state coordinator or NYSC, though, because the next coordinator may not have been trained by NYSC to carry out this assignment,” she said.

Ben-Ushie announced free genotype tests for corps members, who did not know their genotype.

In his lecture, a medical practitioner, Dr Udi Ese educated the corps members on the causes, preventative measures as well as management of the sickle cell disease.

Ese blamed sickle cell disorder for most of the children-related diseases in Nigeria, usually attributed to witches or ogbanje.

Rokib Alata and Juliet Uzoma, who are corps volunteer advocates pledged their commitment to spread information about the disorder wherever deployed for primary assignment.