Kemri-Wellcome Trust Research Programme: Investigating the prevalence, clinical consequences and associations of red blood cell alloimmunization among children with sickle cell disease in Kilifi Kenya

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most important genetic disorder in sub- Saharan Africa, where over 280,000 affected children are born every year. Although children with SCD represent only 1-2% of all births within the region, they receive between 10 and 25% of all the blood transfusions administered to children <5 years old. Frequent transfusions put children at risk of erythrocyte alloimmunization - the generation of antibodies to major, minor or variant red blood cell antigens. Blood matching for minor red cell antigens is rarely undertaken in sub-Saharan Africa, and likely increases the risk of alloimmunization. My fellowship has two main aims. First, I will describe the prevalence and consequences of alloimmunization among children attending the SCD clinic at Kilifi County Hospital in Kenya. Second, I will explore potential risk factors for the development of alloimmunization, including levels of inflammation within transfusion recipients and red blood cell genetic diversity in both donors and recipients. By identifying risk factors that contribute to alloimmunization, I will contribute to the development of better strategies that reduce the chance of development of alloimmunization for the transfusion management of patients with SCD in Africa.

Programme: International Intermediate Fellowship

Source: The Wellcome Trust, 360Giving data via the 360Giving API, published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Read from https://api.threesixtygiving.org/api/v1/org/GB-CHC-210183/grants_made/?limit=1000&offset=22000. Reshaped by All Business Africa into this record; amounts and currency are as the funder states them.