A study has concluded 65 percent of Senior High School students in Ghana think Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) has a cure.

A final year student of the University of Ghana Medical School, Dr. Joan Ama Foanor Aboagye and a lecturer of the University of Ghana Business School, Prof. Anthony Aboagye explored the awareness of SCD among students of a second cycle institution in Accra.

The study sought to establish participant’s knowledge about the disease and attitudes towards premarital counselling and premarital screening.

For the study, a questionnaire was administered to 115 respondents.

Findings show that 71 per cent of the respondents were aware of SCD.

The proportion of females who were aware of SCD was higher than males. Many did not know that it is a hereditary disease and almost all respondents did not have adequate knowledge about the presentation of the disease.

65.9 percent of those aware of SCD thought it has a cure. Social media came up as an important source of information on SCD for respondents.

While a majority of respondents knew that pre-marital screening is crucial for prevention of the disease, only a little over a quarter of those aware of the disease knew precisely what pre-marital screening for SCD is about.

The study, published in the African Journal of Management Research of the University of Ghana Business School concludes that “more intensive education on SCD early in the life of the youth, particular about pre-marital screening, would help in reducing the incidence of SCD in Ghana.”