Saturday, November 1, 2025 11/1/2025

Sickle Pan African Research Consortium Nigeria (SPARC-NEt)

Award Number: U01HL156942
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL HEART, LUNG, & BLOOD INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/01/2021
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2026

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Sickle Pan African Research Consortium Nigeria (SPARC-NEt) - Nigeria has the highest prevalence of sickle cell disease (SCD) in the world with an estimated 150,000 babies born annually. Children with SCD in Africa are particularly susceptible to infections, with about 50%-90% dying before five years of age. This burden can be substantially reduced by early diagnosis and supportive care with penicillin prophylaxis, and hydroxyurea (HU) treatment, especially for those at risk of stroke. However, these interventions are yet to be widely implemented in patients with SCD in Nigeria. The Sickle Pan African Research Consortium (SPARCO), with collaborative sites in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania was funded by the NIH/ NHLBI in 2017 to establish the infrastructure for future research in SCD. The SPARCO Site in Nigeria is set up at the Centre of Excellence for Sickle Cell Disease Research &Training, University of Abuja (CESRTA). In the first phase of the award, we established the management structure in relation to the Clinical and Data Coordinating Centres and participated actively in consortium working groups’ activities. We obtained and maintained ethical approvals; established a REDCap database under the guidance of the Sickle Africa Data Coordinating Centre (SADaCC); and successfully recruited 4,687 patients across 19 sites using uniform case report forms in collaboration with the Sickle Cell Support Society of Nigeria. (Figure) We delivered specialized training in research and health care management of SCD to 915 health care workers including those in primary health care centres (PHCs). We developed a curriculum for a Master’s degree in Clinical Research and a Postgraduate Diploma in Bioinformatics to address identified gaps. We analyzed preliminary data from the registry and described the clinical phenotypes of SCD in SPARCO Nigeria cohort and conducted an implementation study on newborn. Building on these successes, we are now aiming to sustain, enhance and grow the SCD Network in Africa in order to advance SCD-related epidemiological, translational and clinical research and policy through the Sickle Pan African Research Consortium NigEria (SPARC-NEt) Cohort Study. Our strategy is to increase the SPARC-Net SCD Cohort to 9,000 by: a) recruiting additional 2,000 individuals and bringing in six additional recruitment sites and b) expanding newborn screening to establish a birth cohort of 1000 SCD patients. We will expand, implement, and evaluate the use of the SPARCO Standards of Care (SoC) guidelines for the follow up and management of patients with SCD in the SPARC-NEt Sites and determine the impact of training of, and engagement with, health workers, parents and support groups on the overall health outcomes for individuals with SCD in Nigeria. Additionally, we described three potential implementation and cohort studies that could be adopted by the consortium including a) assess patient characteristics and incidence of clinical events using SPARCO SoC, b) evaluate the impact of HU utilization on clinical and haematological outcomes in patients within the SPARC-Net cohort, and c) using genomic approaches to investigate the association between changes in gut microbiome, HbF levels and frequency of vaso-occlusive crisis in SPARC-Net SCD birth cohort.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $306,021 )
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA	ORMER 2 MINI CAMPUS, UND ST.	GWAGWALADA				NGA	Blood Diseases and Resources Research	000	5	9/15/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$306,021
														Subtotal = $306,021

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $303,626 )
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA	ORMER 2 MINI CAMPUS, UND ST.	GWAGWALADA				NGA	Blood Diseases and Resources Research	000	4	5/29/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$303,626
														Subtotal = $303,626

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $251,871 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA	UNIVERSITY ROAD, GWAGWALADA	ABUJA				NGA	Blood Diseases and Resources Research	000	3	6/30/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$251,871
														Subtotal = $251,871

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $252,616 )
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA	UNIVERSITY ROAD, GWAGWALADA	ABUJA	NULL			NGA	Blood Diseases and Resources Research	000	2	6/3/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$252,616
														Subtotal = $252,616

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $228,914 )
2021	2021	UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA	UNIVERSITY ROAD, GWAGWALADA	ABUJA				NGA	Blood Diseases and Resources Research	000	1	5/31/2021	NEW	$228,914
														Subtotal = $228,914

Grand Total All Awards = $1,343,048

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Sickle Pan African Research Consortium Nigeria (SPARC-NEt)

Award Number: U01HL156942

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL HEART, LUNG, & BLOOD INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/01/2021

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2026

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