In this interview, Kenyan journalist, Larry Madowo, speaks to Nigerian singer, Adekunle Gold, on living with sickle cell disease and his new mission to create awareness. The Afrobeats star explains why he believes the time is now to use his voice to make a difference for those battling the condition.

About 80% of sickle cell patients are in Africa. Nigeria has the largest population of people living with the condition in the world. Around 5% of people on the planet are carriers of trait genes linked to haemoglobin diseases, primarily thalassemia and sickle-cell disease and more than 300,000 newborns with serious haemoglobin abnormalities every year.

“I just got the courage to share my story because many people can share their stories as I can…”

Watch the video below:

In this video, the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guiteras, in a special address on climate action titled, “A Moment of Truth”, stressed that ” the need for climate action is unprecedented, but so is the opportunity – not just to deliver on climate, but on economic prosperity & sustainable development”.

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With climate issues, it is widely believed that Africa is bearing the brunt of a crisis that it contributed little to. Africa has produced 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is much less than that of nations like China and the US. Nonetheless, among the countries most susceptible to the effects of climate change are those in Africa. Global warming caused by humans is expected to make Africa’s already volatile weather even more so.

Eastern and Southern Africa have both witnessed unprecedented drought in recent years. Across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and the autonomous region of Somaliland, 10.7 million people are facing severe hunger.

The Climate Hazards Centre researchers also recently found that February 2024 was the driest in the 40-year data record for an area spanning much of Zambia, Zimbabwe, southeastern Angola, and northern Botswana. Meanwhile, Western and Central Africa like Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad have had their share in the form of incessant rainfall, turning to floods.

Nevertheless, opinions are divided on global positions on climate change with Western advocates campaigning against the continual use of fossil fuel and leading discussion for transition into green energy. On their part, some pan-African observers have argued that Africa— the home and source of a significant amount of global crude— cannot afford the transition as many of its biggest economies like Nigeria, Angola, and Libya depend on oil revenue for national sustainability, arguing that the industrialization of many Western economies came about through “burning energy.”