Sickle cell disease affects millions of people world-wide, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (Campbell et al., 2021). Sickle cell anemia is one of the genetic blood disorders. It involves having defective hemoglobin and distorted red blood cells that do not go through blood vessels smoothly. Some people have sickle cell trait, which is a condition where an individual has one defective gene (Pecker & Naik, 2018). Studies are constantly reporting regarding the lack of knowledge of the genetic inheritance of the sickle cell trait pattern (Mayo-Gamble et al., 2019). Compared to other races, blacks are the most affected by sickle cell anemia. For instance, the chapter readings indicated that in about 500 African-Americans, one of them has sickle cell anemia in the United States. Therefore, sickle cell trait is also more common among African-Americans.
My question: Should healthcare professionals encourage all African-Americans to undergo testing for sickle cell trait to prevent sickle cell anemia?
