By Stephen Otage
The Speaker of Parliament Rt Hon.Rebecca Kadaga has said she has been ignorant about the prevalence of sickle cell disease in Uganda until the international day of sickle cell disease which was hosted in Kamuli district.
Speaking at the second annual sickle cell marathon at Kati-Kati restaurant in Kampala, Kadaga said she did not know that her own region, Busoga, Teso and Bundibugyo have the highest prevalence of sickle cell disease and yet there are no specialized facilities for the treatment of disease which is a neglected but a curable.
She has revealed that to address the problem, parliament has created a budget line for Sickle Cell this year, so that it becomes a regular feature of our budget.
The marathon organized jointly with the Pharmaceutical society of Uganda, was meant to raise funds for construction of a fulltime Sickle Cell Center to support to sicklers around the country.
