Healing Little Hearts and Hands   Coulson Sickle-Cell Foundation (CSCF) Of Sierra Leone     About Us The Coulson Sickle Cell Foundation (CSCF) is a non-profit organization founded to create awareness within the Sierra Leone community about the devastating effects of sickle-cell disease to children and their families and educate them on identification, and management of the disease while working with other health professionals.  CSCF is partnered with Graced Team, Inc.—the central organization body—helping to promote education, agriculture and provides marginalized rural communities opportunities to become self-reliant by strengthening families and communities thus helping the impoverished nation to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With the high infant mortality in Sierra Leone, a majority of the children could be dying from sickle cell disease because of the lack of awareness of the disease and/or inability of families to obtain reasonable treatment. With the help of Sierra Leone health professionals in the country and abroad, families with children of the disease would be educated on identifying and managing the disease.  CSCF would establish outpatient treatment centers for children and their families.     The Coulson Sickle Cell Foundation of Sierra Leone plan to start a low cost program that would provide, penicillin, folic acid, and pain medication to children diagnosed with sickle cell. This would help reduce or prevent pain crisis and infections in children—a major part of the illness. Board of Directors

About Sickle Cell Sickle Cell disease is a genetic disorder that affects the hemoglobin in the red blood cells. Hemoglobin is a protein that carries oxygen to different parts of the body.  The three most common types of sickle cell disease are hemoglobin SS disease (also called sickle cell anemia), hemoglobin SC disease and sickle cell beta thalassemia. Sickle cell anemia is a non-contagious disease. It is an inherited disorder of the red blood cell.  In the United States, it is more common among African Americans. Sickle cell Disease is also common in other racial/ethnic groups in the United States and around the world especially in Africa. CSCF main focus is in Sierra Leone, which is located on the west coast of Africa.   Sierra Leone has the highest death of infant mortality in the world, with little progress.  Most of these deaths are caused by Pneumonia, Malaria, Infections, Tetanus, and other diseases like Sickle Cell, that have been wrongly  diagnosed. The coordinator of the Sierra Leone Sickle Cell Disease Association (SLSCDS) identified that 23.9% of sickle cell children with Sickle Cell are hemoglobin SS—the most severe case of sickle cell1.  Most children with sickle cell disease feel and look fine most of the time if given proper care. When they have medical problems or having a crisis they become very sick quickly and with little or no warning. For this reason, Coulson Sickle Cell Foundation of Sierra Leone is on a mission with other organizations to introduce the test of all newborns in Sierra Leone for sickle cell disease, and also indentifying infants and children who have been living with this disease to get proper care.   There is no cure for the disease; most of the medical care involves treating or preventing the problems. Our foundation mission is to make specialty care available to infant and children. Our foundation has put in place treatment center in Freetown, which will be open February of 2009. And we will be working with team of specialist in the United States and Sierra Leone together to help the family manages the child’s health care needs.   1 Awoko—a local Sierra Leonean newspaper