BACKGROUND

Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) is an autosomal recessive heredi-tary haemoglobinopathy. About 5 % of the world’s popula-tion carries the gene, and each year about 300 000 infants are born with major haemoglobin disorders. 1 The public health implications of SCA are clear as it causes either death or disability. The predominant symptom associated with SCA is pain resulting from the occlusion of small blood vessels by abnormally ‘sickle-shaped ’ red blood cells (RBCs). Priapism is a SCA complication which has a great impact on boys ’ sexual health. Adolescents with priapism frequently fail to seek medical assistance due to embar-rassment and the lack of understanding of the relation-ship between painful sustained erections and SCA. Early recognition of the different clinical types of priapism an