The TASC unit has led social science research into sickle cell in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Working with the Sierra Leone Sickle Cell Disease Society, Freetown, Sierra Leone and Sickle Cell Carers Awareness Network, Koidu, Sierra Leone, the research focussed on women’s experiences with sickle cell disease (SCD) – either as mothers of children with SCD or as women living with SCD themselves.
Berghs, M., Dyson, S. M., Gabba, A., Nyandemo, S. E., Roberts, G., & Deen, G. (2020). “You have to find a caring man, like your father!” gendering sickle cell and refashioning women’s moral boundaries in Sierra Leone. Social Science & Medicine, 259, 113148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113148
Berghs, M., Dyson, S., Gabba, A., Nyandemo, S., Roberts, G., Deen, G., & Thomas, I. (2022). “I want to become someone!” gender, reproduction and the moral career of motherhood for women with sickle cell disorders. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 1-15. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691058.2022.2083239?journalCode=tchs20
The work in Sierra Leone has also produced a Guide to School Policy on Sickle Cell a guide that was also turned into a popular “Sikul Sel” song by local musician Sam Macauley. In a low-income setting where a large part of the population lives in a rural setting and is illiterate, ensuring accessibility of information about how to care for and live well with sickle cell is critical.