Burkinabe student E.O. navigates life with sickle cell disease

Despite frequent hospitalizations, intense bone pain, and severe anemia, she maintains a calm demeanor. She recounts a month-long hospitalization at age 18 while preparing for her baccalaureate exams, which she passed with a scholarship, considering it a significant victory against her illness. E.O. is the second of four children and receives strong family support, but faces societal prejudice from those who misunderstand her condition, sometimes being labeled lazy due to the need to moderate physical activity.

She highlights that sickle cell disease is often misunderstood because its symptoms are not always externally visible. The disease has also left physical marks; between 2022 and 2024, she underwent two surgeries for hip pain, resulting in femoral prostheses and a slight limp. To manage her condition, E.O. has adapted her lifestyle, avoiding intense fatigue, protecting herself from climate variations, maintaining a healthy diet, and drinking at least two liters of water daily.

She encourages other sickle cell patients to accept their condition, seek medical follow-up, and manage their diet. E.O. also calls on authorities to subsidize medication costs for accessibility, recruit more hematologists, and urges consistent blood donations, as sickle cell patients often require blood transf.