That makes this country the sickle-cell capital of the world. According to the Daily Times of Lagos, about one million Nigerians have sickle-cell anemia, and 60,000 die of it each year. A Problem in the Blood To understand the disorder, we need to know what blood does and how it moves through the body. An illustration helps. Imagine a country that depends on imported food to feed people living in rural villages.
Trucks drive to the capital city where they are loaded with food.
They leave the city along major highways, but as they enter the rural areas, the roads narrow. If everything goes well, the trucks reach their destination, drop off their food, and then return to the city to collect more food for the next delivery. If many of the trucks break down, however, the food spoils and other trucks are blocked from passing. Then the people in the villages have little to eat. In like manner, the red cells in the blood travel to the lungs where they pick up a supply of oxygen-food for the body.