Full pre-marriage health compatibility check — sickle cell genotype, blood group, and Rh factor. Know before you say "I do".
WHO and health ministries across Africa recommend pre-marital health screening to prevent avoidable disease transmission and plan for healthy families.
Your haemoglobin genotype determines whether you carry the sickle cell gene. AA means you have two normal haemoglobin genes. AS means you are a carrier (sickle cell trait) — you are healthy but carry one sickle gene. SS means you have Sickle Cell Disease — both genes are abnormal. People with SS often experience painful crises, anaemia, and organ damage from childhood.
Two AS partners have a 25% chance with each pregnancy of having an SS child (sickle cell disease), 50% chance of AS (carrier like the parents), and 25% chance of AA (normal). Many AS-AS couples marry successfully and seek prenatal diagnosis or use IVF with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to have healthy children. The decision is personal and medical counselling is strongly recommended.
Rh factor is a protein on red blood cells. Being Rh positive (+) means you have it; Rh negative (-) means you don't. When an Rh-negative mother carries an Rh-positive baby, her immune system may produce antibodies against the baby's blood. This is called Rh incompatibility. The first pregnancy is usually safe, but subsequent pregnancies can be affected. A simple injection (anti-D immunoglobulin) given during pregnancy prevents complications — this is why knowing your Rh status is vital.
Haemoglobin C is another variant of haemoglobin, more common in West Africa. AC carriers are typically healthy. CC causes mild anaemia. SC disease (one S gene + one C gene) causes a form of sickle cell disease — usually milder than SS but still serious. An AS + AC couple has a 25% chance of an SC child with each pregnancy.
Africa bears 80% of the global sickle cell disease burden. In Nigeria, approximately 24% of the population are AS carriers. Ghana has a carrier rate of ~25%. In Uganda and East Africa, the rate is lower (~13%). About 150,000–200,000 babies are born with sickle cell disease in Africa every year — more than anywhere else in the world.
Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is the most common genetic disorder in Africa. Unlike most genetic diseases, it is entirely preventable with awareness and pre-marital screening.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is caused by inheriting two abnormal haemoglobin genes — one from each parent. In sub-Saharan Africa, where sickle cell carrier rates can reach 25-40% in some populations, pre-marital genotype testing is one of the most important steps a couple can take before starting a family.
The most critical combination to avoid is AS + AS. Each pregnancy carries a 25% chance of producing an SS child who will have sickle cell disease. With SS + SS couples, every child will have the disease. Many African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon, have launched public health campaigns encouraging genotype testing before marriage.
Beyond sickle cell, haemoglobin C variants (AC, CC, SC) are common in Ghana and Burkina Faso. SC disease, while sometimes milder than SS, still causes significant health problems. Haemoglobin AC couples have a 25% chance of CC offspring, and AS + AC couples have a 25% chance of SC disease offspring.
Rh factor incompatibility is a separate but equally important consideration. In Africa, approximately 6-8% of the population is Rh negative. When an Rh-negative mother and Rh-positive father conceive, the mother may develop antibodies (sensitisation) that attack subsequent Rh-positive pregnancies. This is preventable with anti-D immunoglobulin treatment during and after pregnancy.
These tools help turn technical health information into plain-language questions. They should make the user better prepared, not more confident than their clinician.
This app now has its own benchmarked improvement layer, dashboard handoff, email-gated PDF plan, and a route into the Labs and compatibility pack workflow.
Premarital genotype counselling tools: Compatibility checks must push lab confirmation and counselling before decisions.
Implemented here: Added labs workflow plan, red-flag copy, and dashboard/PDF actions.