Assessing the Knowledge, Attitude and Perception Towards Sickle Cell Disease Among University Students in Ghana

Background: Haemoglobin disorders such as Sickle cell disease (SCD) have been acknowledged to be of great public health concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006. To reduce the tremendous public health and economic burden SCD exerts on many countries, the WHO is urging countries, especially those in Africa, to increase public awareness of the disease. Such awareness programmes among the young unmarried population will go a long way to prevent the birth of children with this painful genetic condition. Purpose: This study therefore sought to assess the level of knowledge, attitude to people living with SCD, and perception of SCD among undergraduate students of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out. A total of 400 participants were selected using multistage sampling technique. Data was collected using a pretested, self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software, version 25. Results: Almost all the students (96.75%) were aware of SCD. School and the media were the main sources of information (50.65%, 32.3% respectively). The mean knowledge score was 4.73 ± 2.41 (maximum score of 12) with 62%, 35.8% and 2.3% of participants having inadequate, moderate and adequate knowledge respectively. Majority of the participants (81.8%) had positive attitudes towards people living with SCD. Most respondents (78.5%) were likely to perform premarital genotype screening. Conclusion: In general, there was inadequate knowledge on SCD despite the high level of awareness among participants. Recommendation: Findings of the study highlights the need for continuous effective health education on sickle cell disease to students whose reproductive health choices will either increase or decrease the sickle cell disease burden in the very near future.