Lagos State Chapter

The Meyiwa Vera Empowerment Foundation's Save the Next Generation Sickle Cell Awareness Campaign was held on 20 June 2026 from 9:00am to 3:00pm at the Sickle Cell Foundation Centre in Lagos State, in collaboration with the Jamie Pajoel International (JPI) Lagos State Branch. The program was geared towards young adults, students, couples, sickle cell clients and parents/guardians. The objectives of the campaign included to: raise awareness on sickle cell, raise genotype test and prevent, promote voluntary donor and community involvement for sickle cell patients.

The event featured a registration awareness walk from the Sickle Cell Foundation to Ojuelegba under-bridge and return, opening speech, health talk, testimonies, music, networking, and refreshments. It was supported with the highest number of volunteers, with 240 volunteers in the WhatsApp group. It was also supported with the engagement of influencers, healthcare educational materials, and a joint effort of volunteers, healthcare professionals, partners and other people involved.

No medical emergencies occurred among the sickle cell warriors attending the event, whilst an ambulance with medical personnel was on hand. Even though the campaign was a success, some issues were revealed, including: communication inefficiencies, ambiguities, overlapping responsibilities, inefficient use of time, speaker/guest coordination, and unclear hierarchy of command. These issues sometimes led to duplication of work, delays and wastage of funds.

In his report for the next editions, it was proposed that preparations should begin 3-6 months ahead, a hierarchy within the organization should be established, tasks should have a clear list of roles and responsibilities, financial transparency and reconciliation should be improved, spending prioritized, greater media coverage gained, and the venue should be larger.

All in all, the Save the Next Generation Campaign was a success and it did accomplish its main awareness objectives, in particular given that it was the Foundation's first large scale sickle cell awareness campaign of this magnitude. The event was a useful experience in volunteer mobilization, stakeholder engagement, health advocacy, logistical and programme planning skills that can be utilized for future editions to be more organized, sustainable and effective.