Parental Attitude to Children with Sickle Cell Disease in Selected Health Facilities in Irepodun Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria

The study investigated parental attitude towards children with sickle cell disease in selected health facilities, in Irepodun, Local Government, Kwara State, Nigeria. 80 participants were purposively selected for the study. A self-reporting questionnaire was used to collect the needed information from the parents of children with sickle cell disease. Simple percentage and Chi-square were used to analyze the data. Findings from the study showed that about 87% of the participants regretted having such children and gave reasons such as lack of enlightenment programme on sickle cell anemia, no genetic counseling, ill-disposition to pre-marital genotypic screening, inadequate medical facilities for adequate test for genotype in rural areas, gross misrepresentation and wrong perception of sickle cell disease, lack of knowledge of people on sickle cell disease and nonchalant attitude to the result of screening due to love and interest in one's partners. It is therefore recommended that adequate mobilization of educative programmes on importance of pre-marital genetic counseling should be done, facilities should be provided for genotype screening. freely for the members of the society, it should be made compulsory for all intending couples and where incompatibility exists, they should not be allowed to marry. The government should legislate in this area by not allowing marriages between non-compatible individuals and should provide free health service for sickle cell patients while their drugs should be made available in the clinics/hospitals.