Red balloons hung in clusters along the walls of the Tropical Medicine Research Unit today, as employees of the Sickle-Cell Unit gathered outside in red shirts, manning sales and screening booths as the staff observed the institution's inaugural sickle-cell day.

The United Nations declared June 19, International Sickle Cell Awareness Day in order to increase knowledge about the disease.

The Sickle-Cell Unit at the University of the West Indies took full advantage of this move yesterday and organised a five-hour commemoration event.

Professor Marvin Reid, director of the Sickle-Cell Unit, said the unit was seeking to increase awareness about the disease, remove the stigma attached to sickle-cell victims, and support research for treatment and management.

Director of the Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Professor Susan Walker, stressed the importance of screening individuals for the disease. She said this would reduce the likelihood of parents passing on the disease to their offspring. Screening is also necessary to ensure an early start to treatment.

Professor Walker said that only two of the island's hospitals, in Kingston and Spanish Town, have the available equipment to screen newborns for sickle cell.

In recent times, the Sickle-Cell Unit has been finding it increasingly difficult to continue research and expand its programme due to declining resources.