PerkinElmer donation expands sickle cell screening in Ghana

PerkinElmer has donated to Ghana’s Health Services’ initiative to increase the country’s screening of newborns for sickle cell disease (SCD) from its current 4% of all babies born in the country to 50% by 2030. PerkinElmer’s contribution of easy-to-use, scalable laboratory solutions enables Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana to be a Center of Excellence and National Training Center for SCD newborn screening with the ability to build screening capacity for an additional 50,000 babies annually.

The PerkinElmer-provided Migele Gel Electrophoresis Systems will support Ghana’s need for reliable, fast, and cost-efficient SCD screening. With the government’s desire to enact a country-wide screening program, the PerkinElmer solution’s flexible and scalable design can meet growing high-capacity requirements as screening coverage and sample volumes increase.

“PerkinElmer is committed to helping the government of Ghana develop sustainable end to end solutions that focus on screening and diagnosis, in addition to comprehensive care for SCD,” said Marika Kase, business director, reproductive health at PerkinElmer. “We would like to congratulate Ghana Health Services and the Sickle Cell Foundation for the milestones gained so far, in advancing the diagnosis and care of patients with the disease in the country. We hope that this donation will facilitate development of Ghana’s SCD screening program and will therefore improve the lives of children in the region.”

As part of its commitment to the Sub-Saharan African region, PerkinElmer, together with the Novartis Africa Sickle Cell Disease program, is aiming to expand advocacy efforts to educate patients, caregivers and communities about the importance of newborn screening and early intervention with hydroxyurea (HU) and other SCD treatments.

For more information on PerkinElmer’s newborn screening solutions, visit https://rh.perkinelmer.com/newborn-products/.