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Every day, people endure the painful and life-threatening symptoms of sickle cell disease in the shadows because of fear, stigma,and isolation.^1,2,3

Today, on World Sickle Cell Day, Novartis is helping raise awareness on the disease and its complications by sharing a collection of patient stories from around the globe, developed in partnership with physician and photographer, Dr. Alex Kumar. Using the power of words and pictures, this series aims to uncover the real impact of sickle cell disease and show how people are facing this debilitating illness with extraordinary courage. These stories, as well as educational materials, are available on UntoldSickleCellStories.com.

Sickle cell disease is a hereditary and life-threatening condition that causes ongoing vascular damage and repeated injury to the blood vessels and organs.^1,4 This lifelong illness often takes an extreme emotional, physical, and financial toll on patients and their families.^5,6 It affects people around the globe, with the highest burden concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa; however, it is also common among people with ancestry in South America, Central America, and India, as well as the Mediterranean.⁷ An estimated 300,000 babies are born annually with sickle cell disease, and about 300 million people worldwide have the sickle cell trait.^5,8

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Novartis

Novartis is an innovative medicines company. Every day, we work to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives so that patients, healthcare professionals and societies are empowered in the face of serious disease. Our medicines reach more than 250 million people worldwide.

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