Is A Cure For Sickle Cell Disorder Now Available At The Lagos University Teaching Hospital?
On December 10, 2025, an X user claimed that the cure to sickle cell disorder is located at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, which is overseen by the sickle cell foundation in Nigeria. The post is captioned “The cure for sickle cell disorder is now available at sickle cell foundation Nigeria, LUTH. 🥺 Please retweet for others to see”
When this report was published, the post had about 871,600 views and over 55,000 replies, repost, quotes, likes and bookmarks. In the comment section, @MiraKreates wrote “The cure for sickle cell has always been there, but it’s costly. But do you know there’s a cheaper option? Here it is, before you go ahead to marry ensure you check your genotype and that of your partner, this helps you know if you’re compatible. Of course, It’s better than paying huge amounts of money for bone marrow transplant. Don’t use love as an excuse. Check your genotype!” while @psabode said “Congratulations! Now let the research proceed with all deliberate speed to massively lower the cost and make it affordable for our largely impoverished sufferer population!”
VERIFICATION
Currently, the only established medical cure for sickle cell disorder, SCD, is a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, where unhealthy blood-forming cells are replaced with healthy ones. This eliminates the disease in individuals who undergo the procedure successfully.
In January 2022, the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, and the Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria, SCFN partnered to launch a state-of-the-art facility for bone marrow transplants in Lagos, Nigeria. The partnership is part of a formal, ongoing clinical and programmatic collaboration focused on advancing care and ultimately a cure for sickle cell disease, SCD, in Nigeria and the centre is the first of its kind in West Africa.
According to Mayo Clinic, Bone Marrow Transplant, BMT, also called haematopoietic stem cell transplant, is a procedure that replaces a patient’s faulty blood-forming stem cells with healthy ones.
Bone marrow transplants, BMT, are only for selected patients because the procedure is a major medical intervention with significant risks, toxicities, and potential for fatal complications. A careful evaluation is required to ensure the potential for cure or long-term benefit outweighs the inherent dangers, making it a suitable option only for patients with specific, often life-threatening, conditions who meet strict eligibility criteria.
The first set of transplants under this partnership took place between August–September 2024 and according to a Guardian newspaper report, the centre has successfully treated 52 persons under the bone-marrow transplant programme. However, there is no universal cure for all people with sickle cell disorder yet, only specific treatments like BMT for selected patients and experimental therapies under study.
CONCLUSION
The claim that the cure to sickle cell disorder is located at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital is MISLEADING. It is correct that bone marrow transplant, the only established cure, is now being offered in Nigeria through the Sickle Cell Foundation’s partnership with LUTH, and some individuals have been successfully treated. However, this is not a universal cure for all individuals with sickle cell disorder, and major barriers still remain.
