Yemen, along with the rest of the world, commemorates World Sickle Cell Day on June 19th as an important annual event to raise awareness about inherited red blood cell disorders and highlight the importance of early detection.

While the world celebrates World Sickle Cell Day, Yemeni children suffering from this disease are struggling for their lives in overcrowded intensive care units, instead of receiving the care and awareness they deserve like other children around the world. The pain and debilitating hemolytic crises that tear at their bodies cry out to humanity and religious duty to expedite the delivery of life-saving medications.

As a result of the repercussions of the American, Saudi, and Emirati aggression against Yemen, the disease has transformed from a health challenge into compounded suffering for children enduring severe pain and shortages of medicine and blood.

The unjust aggression and the resulting blockade have made it extremely difficult for patients to access medicines and medical supplies, which require special transport conditions.

On this occasion, the Yemeni Thalassemia Patients Association issued an urgent humanitarian appeal to all international and regional organizations and philanthropists to save the lives of thousands of children and patients suffering from thalassemia and other inherited blood disorders in Yemen, who are currently facing an imminent and direct threat to their survival.

In a statement received by the Yemeni News Agency (SABA), the association announced the complete depletion of vital medicines and essential medical solutions, most notably treatments for iron overload in patients dependent on blood transfusions. The absence of these treatments poses a fatal risk, damaging and causing failure of the heart and liver. This catastrophic shortage coincides with a near-total paralysis in the provision of empty blood bags and donor testing reagents.

She emphasized that the absence of these essential resources not only means the cessation of treatment but also a slow and agonizing death sentence for hundreds of innocent people. The lack of blood or the accumulation of toxins in the body leads to the failure of vital organs, threatening an uncontrollable humanitarian catastrophe in the coming days if this tragic silence continues.

According to the association’s statistics, the number of sickle cell anemia patients reached 6,167 cases in 2026, of which 426 died due to the lack of medication. She noted that 59 new cases were recorded this year, while the number of registered cases of anemia with thalassemia reached 655, of which 53 died.

The association stressed the importance of this occasion to draw the community’s attention to supporting patients and intensifying health awareness campaigns to prevent these chronic genetic diseases. She also highlighted the importance of taking measures to reduce the spread of the disease, including the necessity of premarital screening.

The situation of anemia patients was described as tragic due to their need for medication and blood transfusions, amidst the difficulties the association faces as a result of the increasing number of cases.

A Yemeni scientific study recommended the necessity of premarital medical examinations to avoid problems related to genetic diseases, particularly sickle cell anemia. The study considered these examinations a crucial step for the early detection of carriers of this genetic disease, thus reducing its transmission to children and future generations.

The study highlighted the difficulty of treating sickle cell anemia, which results from a genetic defect affecting red blood cells, rendering them unable to perform their function of transporting oxygen to the body’s organs normally. This necessitates blood transfusions for the patient every 3-4 weeks, depending on the severity of the disease and the degree of hemoglobin deficiency. In some cases, the patient may require a bone marrow transplant.

The Ministry called for the launch of awareness and health education campaigns about thalassemia, its causes, effects, and methods of prevention. It also urged the community to prioritize premarital screening and to provide the necessary financial, human, and technological resources to conduct a comprehensive survey of the disease, identify the social and health factors associated with its spread, and raise awareness about the link between sickle cell anemia and consanguineous marriage.

In 2022, the Ministry of Justice directed marriage registrars to educate and guide families and both parties to a marriage contract regarding the importance of premarital medical examinations to reduce the spread of hereditary diseases.

In its circular, the Ministry appealed to the heads of appellate and primary courts, as well as directors and heads of notary offices, to contribute to raising public awareness about the dangers of genetic diseases, including thalassemia and hereditary hemolytic anemia, in order to mitigate their negative effects on both parties to a marriage contract in particular, and on the health and well-being of society in general.

The Ministry urged marriage registrars, each within their respective jurisdiction, to educate and guide families and both parties to marriage contracts about the risks of sickle cell anemia. This requires everyone’s contribution to raising awareness and educating the community about its dangers, especially those about to marry.

Specialists emphasize the importance of prevention over treatment, calling for intensified awareness campaigns on the importance of premarital screening, the provision of preventative treatment within the list of subsidized essential medicines, and support for blood banks.

Sickle cell anemia is a hereditary disease that transforms red blood cells from their round shape to a rigid, sickle-shaped form, which obstructs blood vessels and causes chronic anemia and severe pain crises.

Despite its seriousness, the disease spreads silently in societies as one of the chronic genetic diseases transmitted from parents carrying the gene to their children through genes. It leads to persistent anemia from a few months after birth until the end of life.

Anemia also leads to complications for the patient, requiring blood transfusions. It causes enlargement of the spleen and liver, osteoporosis and facial deformities with protruding front teeth, as well as hormonal changes and often impaired growth. Iron levels remain consistently high due to repeated blood transfusions and the continuous destruction of short-lived cells.

This is accompanied by complications affecting various body systems, which may ultimately lead to organ damage or failure of bodily functions, particularly of the heart, spleen, liver, kidneys, and pancreas.

Therefore, raising awareness about preventing this disease and contributing to alleviating the suffering of patients is a collective responsibility, especially since Yemeni children with anemia are waging two battles: one against their genetic predisposition and the other against the lack of medicine, food, and hope due to the ongoing aggression and blockade.