Building Capacity for Sickle Cell Disease Research and Healthcare

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) was discovered over 100 years ago, yet much remains to be discovered about this disease. The majority of affected people are mostly of African descent and those originating from malaria-endemic regions. SCD is a recognized global health issue, necessitating the establishment of major capacity-building efforts to improve research and healthcare, especially in the most affected countries. Due to great disparities in the management and care of SCD, attempts to improve the ongoing capacity-building efforts holds great promise. Successful treatment of SCD has the potential to impact other genetic diseases since SCD is an ideal model for emerging interventions such as gene therapy.

This Research Topic aims to highlight ongoing projects, research, healthcare advances, advocacy and capacity building in the SCD field. We specifically seek articles that address translational SCD, research (including implementation science), standards of care for SCD patients globally, equitable access to improved and quality healthcare, and global or regional SCD research initiatives.

This Research Topic is interested in Original Research, Review and General Commentary articles in the following areas:
- Scientific and research implementation surround SCD
- Infections in SCD
- Vaccines in SCD
- SCD modifiers
- Newborn Screening
- Predictors of disease severity
- Developing new therapeutic intervention
- Quality of Life
- Pain management in SCD
- Genome-wide Association Studies, Next Generation Sequencing and other omics approaches
- Genotypic markers of disease
- Phenotype and genotype correlations
- Standards of Care
- Sustainability of projects/interventions
- Ethical, Legal and Social Implications
- Patient Engagement
- Skills development
- Big Data Analytics
- SCD registries