Why in news? A start-up incubated by the Society for Innovation and Development at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has developed SickleCert, India’s first indigenous diagnostic kit for sickle cell anemia.

Highlights

• The Union government has announced an ambitious National Sickle Cell Elimination Mission to eradicate the disease from the country by 2047 in the recent Budget.

About Sickle cell anaemia

• It is a group of blood disorders typically inherited
• It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red blood cells that leads to a rigid, sickle-like shape under certain circumstances
• Problems in sickle cell disease typically begin around 5 to 6 months of age.
• Sickle cell disease occurs when a person inherits two abnormal copies of the β-globin gene (HBB) that makes haemoglobin, one from each parent.
• Care of patient with sickle cell disease may include infection prevention with vaccination and antibiotics, high fluid intake, folic acid supplementation, and pain medication
• Diagnosis is also possible during pregnancy