About us

   Sickle Cell Enigma Consultants is a voluntary organization established by Dr Nne Ihuoma & Mr Ike Ngumoha, concerned and caring medical/healthcare professionals who have come in contact with a lot of sickle cell anemia patients and have also noticed so much ignorance and lack of awareness in our communities as to what is sickle cell, its etiology and mode of inheritance/transmission. Besides, Dr Ihuoma has also lost a couple of friends and relatives due to Sickle Cell Anemia crisis mismanagement.

   The organization was then started by the feeling that there were virtually very little supports for these our friends, sisters and brothers. We were so touched as to how best and what to do to help these affected families and friends. In the course of our career we have also come across a couple of friends who had problems finding helpful information to be able to care for their suffering children/loved ones especially the ones who have had a stroke due to Sickle Cell complications. Though medical care is there but lack of insurance/fund for the underserved and uninsured, makes management of the crisis at home very heart breaking for these families. “Why are these our friends suffering so much when there can be help?” was the question that kept re-occurring in our minds over and over again.  So the Sickle Cell Enigma consultants’ idea was born. 

   Sickle Cell Enigma Consultants (SCEC) work with Afro/Caribbean/American families that have been affected by Sickle Cell and Stroke in children.
We provide a wide range of community services for Sickle Cell affected individuals, their families & the general public such as:

  • Advice and Information

  • Children’s Play Guide

  • Support Group for families

  • Health promotion lectures and Talks to groups

  • Genetic Counseling for youths and Parents/Care-givers

  • Services/activities for sickle cell anemia children & their families

  • Services for disabled adults and older people

  • General healthy lifestyle Counseling

  • Services for people with disabilities due to sickle cell complications

  • Workshop/training for care-givers, teachers and others.

  • Modernization program

  • Healthy communities

  • Quality Child protection services  

  • Public health action plans

   During these programs pre-marriage genotype test and newborn screening is stressed as to help in early detection and better management of Sickle Cell anemia. Advice on good dietary plan and importance of antibiotic and iron/iron overload implications is also stressed. This will help in reduction and prevention of splenic sequestration, hepatomegaly, pneumonia, kidney failure, and other common complications of Sickle cell Anemia such as stroke: because with good management there will be reduced cases of ion overload and it’s concomitant organ damage. All these are intended to give the sufferers/their families and our communities a better generation.

 
     
Who We Are

   Dr. Nne Ihuoma is the Project Director and co-founder of Sickle Cell Enigma Consultants, which reaches out to people affected with sickle cell anemia.

   She is a Dr with a PhD in Medical Parasitology/Public Health, and a consultant with special interest in genetics. She also has a certificate in theology, all in her quest to help the down-trodden, spiritually, emotionally, and otherwise, and to put a smile on their faces. She speaks at conferences and has been a guest speaker at BBC (England) on a live show talking and answering questions about better sickle cell anemia management strategies.

   Dr. Ihuoma has a long list of credits as a co-author and clinical researcher. She also has a couple of scientific publications to her credit.

   Sickle Cell Enigma Consultants has a management committee that is responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the organization. Among the board members is Ike Ngumoha, a healthcare professional and co-founder of Sickle Cell Enigma Consultants. Ike has a BSBA, BSN-RN, and MBA. Also on the board is Dr Niyi Coker, who has (BA, MFA, and PhD), and many other caring professionals.

 
     
   The Project Director speaking on sickle cell crisis management during a conference in London, UK.
 

Good Job results in smiley faces & better/happier generation.


This is a crude method of Sickle Cell treatment in some African Countries

 
Sickle cell can also cause stroke.
 
What We Do

   We are here to support families affected by sickle cell and its concomitant disabilities like stroke. Parents/care-givers looking after young sickle cell sufferers are relieved to know that there is an organization that understands what they are going through. It is important that they can meet each other to be able to share and support each other. I believe that through these sessions they can overcome the difficulties they face in their everyday lives.

   In our communities, we see sickle cell as something to whisper about, a taboo, a stigma; we tend to ‘grin and bear it’; we are not willing to ask for help until it is too late, when we want the help, we do not know where to go. In the meantime, our children suffer from our lack of ignorance – all I can say is that it is high time we put our children first—they are the future generation.

   Sickle Cell Enigma Consultants is here now to help by providing support, advice, information, and activities for the affected families. I believe that in our communities it’s high time we started shouting “help find a cure for sickle cell, it is a debilitating and terminal ill health—we are suffering!” That would create awareness. But, as a more subtle approach, Sickle Cell Enigma Consultants have started to create awareness in the communities. The number of requests that we receive for information is increasing every day and is overwhelming.
 
 
Our Mission

  The aim of Sickle Cell Enigma Consultants (SCEC) is to provide all round support to families devastated by the effects of sickle cell anemia and its concomitant complications like stroke.
The objective of the organization is primarily:

  • To improve community awareness of sickle cell/stroke and its management. To stress on the importance of blood donation and other health issues associated with Sickle Cell through public speaking, education, outreach, and various programs and activities in the communities.
  • To give advice/counseling to affected families that can help them, regarding disability, health education, and recreation, especially after a child has had a stroke.
  • To provide activities/programs for children, teens, and adults that will bring together affected families, so they can share experiences as they make progress and gain confidence.
  • To help provide the underserved/impoverished children and adults in affected developing nations with free prophylactic and immunization medication through international outreaches.
  • Most importantly, to educate those in the rural communities in developing nations on what sickle cell is. This will help reduce or even eradicate the crude method of sickle cell treatment due to ignorance.
    This crude method usually involves stripping (naked) the sufferer thus exposing the person to more complications like pneumonia. Then rituals/incantations are made to the “gods,” followed by incision on their forehead, hand, chest, and legs, all in the name of ‘’removing the dirty blood” and the “spirit”, assumed to be causing the pain and crisis associated with sickle cell. These “native doctors,” as they are known, are unaware of the “dos and don’ts’’ of sickle cell and thus tend to expose these innocent children to pneumonia and its concomitant effects. They need to be informed, and fast!
  • To in general improve the health of Sickle Cell sufferers in developing nations by provision of primary facilities that could help reduce the effect of malaria and/or helminthic infections, on sickle cell anemia.
  • To also improve the socio-economic life of these Sickle Cell Sufferers that has been retarded due to the stigma & taboo associated with the disease.
 
 
Our Goal

   In a nutshell, Kofi Annan summarized it as:
"It is my aspiration that health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for; but as a human right to be fought for."
— United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan

All these are geared towards:

  • Reduction or eradication of sickle cell crisis inhumane and crude method of treatment in 3rd world countries.

  • Inculcating a better sickle cell crisis management method into our society.

  • Eradication of the lack of awareness of sickle cell aetiology.

  • Eradication of “Body Mutilation” of Sickle Cell children already in pain, in the name of treatment in some third world countries.(This is the crude method of sickle cell treatment in some African countries)

  • Most importantly, to help these affected friends live happier and more fulfilled lives.

“Knowledge is Health”, educate yourself and let’s join hands to walk for the cure of Sickle Cell Anemia!