Saudi Arabia alone carries an estimated 140,000-200,000 sickle cell patients, while mandatory premarital screening cuts new HbSS births 15-20% a year.

Sickle cell disease burden in the GCC is disproportionate on a global scale: Saudi Arabia alone carries an estimated 140,000-200,000 patients, reflecting carrier rates of 6-7% in the Eastern Province and 3-4% nationally, with significant HbSS and HbSS/HbC compound heterozygosity; Bahrain reports 2-3% adult prevalence and parts of Oman 3-5%. This makes the GCC one of the highest per-capita SCD burden regions outside sub-Saharan Africa, a legacy of historic trade-route population mixing along the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. Mandatory premarital carrier screening, in place nationally in Saudi Arabia, has reduced new HbSS births by an estimated 15-20% annually since implementation, the single most effective GCC-specific intervention to date.

Inadequately treated GCC SCD patients experience 8-12 vaso-occlusive crisis episodes a year and 4-6 hospital admissions annually for severe disease, alongside substantial chronic organ damage: pulmonary hypertension in an estimated 20% of echo-screened patients, avascular necrosis of the hip or shoulder in 30-40%, and stroke history in roughly 10%, lower than comparable US cohorts and attributed to transfusion exchange programmes at major centres. Annual cost per GCC SCD patient runs SAR 180,000-300,000 including hospitalisation, transfusion, and chelation. The patient pathway typically runs from newborn screening through paediatric haematology to adult transition at age 18-21, a transition poorly managed outside KFSH&RC, KAMC, and AUH, which maintain structured adult SCD programmes.

Premarital screening is cutting incidence, but the existing patient population still needs specialist care.

Five questions this report answers:

Q1 - What is the true scale of the GCC SCD population, and how is premarital screening reshaping it?

Q2 - How does the adult transition gap at age 18-21 affect SCD treatment continuity across the GCC?

Q3 - What does the SFDA registration timeline mean for gene therapy commercial readiness in the GCC?

Q4 - How much does one GCC sickle cell patient cost the health system a year?

Q5 - Which three GCC centres maintain structured adult sickle cell haematology programmes today?

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