Bone Marrow Transplantation Ghana & Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation, are affiliated certified non-profit organizations which were established with the sole purpose of revolutionizing patient-care and patient-experiences in the country with advanced treatment, state-of-the-art infrastructure and unequaled obligations to clinical excellence. We are proud to work with leading experts across a range of medical fields, whose skills and achievements in this area are matched by their integrity and compassion.

Our team of experts and consultants have dedicated their entire professional lives to the cure of SCDs and pediatric cancers. They are passionate about what they do and they do it with a difference.

Our Vision

Our vision is to eradicate sickle cell anemia and other blood disorders from Sub-Saharan Africa.

Our Mission

To prevent, conduct early diagnosis, treat and cure persons living with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) and other transplant-able disorders in Ghana and the Sub-Saharan African region, through a combination of state-of-the-art technology, research and other interventions.

 Our History

From the onset, SCD has hardly been regarded as a disease of any public health implication. The health status of children with serious genetic disorders such as SCD in Ghana, like in its neighboring countries, have been submerged in statistics on death from the major childhood diseases such as malaria, acute respiratory infections and malnutrition.

Research has it that 14,200 babies born each year in Ghana have a form of SCD, most go un-diagnosed and probably die young (Ohene-Frempong, 2007). This is our call to duty.

In 2017, BMTG & SCAF was founded and it is the first and the only Bone Marrow Transplantation Center in Ghana and one of its kind the entire West African sub-region

It is dedicated to the cure of sickle cell anemia, aplastic anemia, leukemia, pediatric cancers and other blood disorders. Its Research & Education Center and Head Office are all located at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital in Ghana.

Our Assessment of the Situation

Our assessment is that the comprehensive interventions are challenged by:

• a lack of adequate information about the prevalence of the disease,
• a lack of knowledge about treatment and other available interventions,
• a lack of access to comprehensive care for persons with SCD and other blood disorders,
• high cost of treatment of blood disorders,
• bias and negative attitude towards persons with sickle cell disease

Our programs are therefore designed to mitigate the impact of these challenges.

Programs we offer

 The BMTG & SCAF offers:

• Cure to children and adults with severe SCDs and other transplantable disorders using bone marrow transplantation to improve health outcomes for patients,
• Superior and comprehensive basic health care services and free medical advice, free new-born screening, free medication, free HLA typing for SCD patients and their families,
• Public awareness on blood transplants, cure and management of sickle cell anemia and other blood disorders such as aplastic anemia, leukemia, lymphoma, bone marrow failure, thalassemia and other blood disorders,
• Prompt diagnosis and best-of-class medical care for persons with SCD and other blood disorders,

• Increased access to specialized advice, detection and treatment of SCD and other blood disorders, and
• Using Ghana as a foothold to provide comprehensive health services to SCD patients and other persons with blood disorders on a non-profit but sustainable basis in the ECOWAS region of sub-Saharan Africa.

Bone Marrow Transplantation Ghana (BMTG) will support the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation's activities. It is key to delivering persons afflicted by the condition and particularly children, by providing tomorrow's treatments and cures using state-of-the-art infrastructure and unequaled obligations to clinical excellence.

Within our constraints, we will continue to deliver high quality, comprehensive and patient-focused interventions for all our patients. To achieve this, we offer a bouquet of services including:

• Harvesting bone marrow from compatible or fully matched individuals or partial matched donors (for example mother/father of persons with disorders) for our transplant procedures. This capability reduces the costs and speed of Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) for the cure of sickle cell anemia and other blood diseases,

• Providing free medication to those who are unable to afford the medical bill and resources to get a bone marrow transplantation,

• Offering free medical advice on ways and how to prevent sudden death and manage other conditions that are associated with the disease,

• Offering Free HLA typing for SCD patients and their families.

Outcomes and Proof of Impact   

Delivering an excellence of clinical care is our sacred responsibility to each of our patients, and that ought to be a way of life at the Bone Marrow Transplantation Ghana medical Center.

We are happy to have conducted four successful BMTs, two of which are full matched and the other two being partial matched (haploidentical transplants) using mother and father as donors. 

BMTG & SCAF is the first and only transplant center in Africa to have done less costly haploidentical or partial matched transplant.

The first transplant was done free of charge to a 5 - year old girl who had multiple stroke and could have lost her life to the disease. Her family contributed a total of $8,400 out of the $25,000 quote, mobilized by their Church and other benevolent organizations.

The 2nd and 3rd patients are brothers from Nigeria who could not afford the $20,000 and $25,000 charge respectively for full matched and partial matched transplants. They could only afford to pay $8,000 each. The 4th client also contributed $10,000 for the partial matched transplant.

Sustainability and Conceptual Plan

In addition to the current suite of services, the Sickle Anemia Cell Foundation and Bone Marrow Transplantation Ghana (BMTG) aims to entrench its collaboration with its current partners, particularly Charité Medical University in Berlin and the Health University of Miami, Florida in order to achieve the following objectives by 2020:

• Develop a portfolio of high quality BMT Units and research Centers in Ghana. The objective aims at preventing, controlling and curing SCDs and blood cancers that disproportionately affect the African continent and ensuring that access to treatment and cure by bone marrow transplantation are locally accessed.

• Mobilize physicians and other health professionals to educate, advocate and counsel for BMT, hemoglobinopathies and blood cancers.

• Provide training opportunities in BMT, hemoglobinopathies and cancers. In collaboration particularly with Charité Medical University in Berlin, this should aim at providing an enhanced education experience with opportunities for collaborative participation in curriculum development and course design. It should also create the avenue for International Clinical Elective Travel Fellowship programs for clinical rotations for both German and Ghanaian medical students and physicians and deliver official certification in this area of medical practice.

• Grants and funding proposal for capacity and infrastructural building in Ghana. Due to the considerable number of BMT candidates, the potential for context-relevant clinical research is huge and potentially relevant to the global rationalization of health care costs related to SCD.

• With a plethora of clinical laboratory tests and new molecular methodologies and research in biomedical being added to the clinical laboratory test menu, clinicians are challenged with keeping abreast with advances in laboratory services. Supporting a network of research centers of excellence that will share expertise, knowledge and contribute to capacity building in Ghana and other strategically selected African countries.

• Mediate contact with Philanthropic Organizations: Charite Medical University commits to mediating with German Philanthropic foundations on behalf of BMTG to support and encourage Bone Marrow Transplantation Ghana and the Sickle Cell Foundation in diverse ways.

• Establishment of Satellite Blood Bank. (an out-of-hours blood banking service at a satellite) and satellite Laboratory in Ghana – This is critical for storage and distribution of blood and blood components

For all these objectives, we would welcome support from well-meaning individuals, profit and not-for-profit organizations. 

Why We Need Support

BMTG & SCAF commits to world-class standards of care, judicious use of resources, accountability and continuing quality improvement.

The average cost of an allogeneic bone marrow transplant in the United States is around $800,000, while an autologous transplant will cost around $350,000. This can vary hugely from state to state, though, and areas where bone marrow transplants are in high-demand will record higher prices. In the case of a child requiring a bone marrow transplant, the cost will range between $75,000 and $200,000.

Bone Marrow Transplantation involves several stages. Some of the stages and services that are currently either dispensed free of charges due to donor support are:

1. Free Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Test
2. Free Hydroxyurea
3. Free Medical Advisory Services and free New-born Screening

The government of Ghana through its Ministry of Health has granted tax waivers on the imported drugs and provided the facilities and auxiliaries that host the BMTG Units and Offices. The specialists who perform the procedures have also provided their services including flight arrangements and living expenses free of charges. This support has made it possible to perform the procedures at the heavily-subsidized cost of up to $25,000 to include the following components:

1. Chemotherapy
2. Surgical supplies for transplant
3. Purchase of blood products for transfusion
4. Irradiation of blood products
5. Laboratory services
6. Radiology and other imaging studies
7. Infectious disease studies
8. DHL shipment of labs and supplies
9. Salary - 2 GP doctors, 9 nurses

We have shown that none of the patients who have undergone transplants have been able to pay the heavily subsidized cost of $25,000.

We have currently also documented over ninety-one clients including 30 non-Ghanaians awaiting the various kinds of transplants. Our assessment from this experience is that, only a handful of this number are able and willing to pay the $25,000.

We cannot and must not allow this inability to prevent these persons from assessing care and the prospects of a better life. We should not and cannot afford to let a worthwhile dream to die. Clearly, to sustain its operations, BMTG is in dire need of financial support to continue to cater for the patients.

If you can sponsor a patient for $25,000, you will be giving a child a chance to live a healthier life and a better tomorrow and playing your part in reducing the impact of SCD and blood disorders on generations yet unborn.

Spirit of Giving!

The close connection between Bone Marrow Transplantation Ghana (BMTG) and these innocent children who seek to grow old and have a better life is renewed again and again through a unique spirit of giving, a relationship characterized by people caring for the foundation that cares for them.

Building a better future for our world and your business

Your gift to Bone Marrow Transplantation Ghana (BMTG) will positively impact and save lives from being taken away by a disease unknown to the afflicted and reducing the incidence of blood disorders in future generations. You will be helping to strengthen perfect care, deepen sacred encounters, and enhance the health of nations. You will be helping to provide advanced health care and advanced SCD treatment and contributing to a sustainable world and sustainable business.

Every donation makes a difference, please make a donation today!