Tanzania, July 27 -- Mugumu. When parents arrived at a paediatric medical camp in Mugumu earlier this year, many expected nothing more than routine consultations for their children.

Instead, doctors began noticing something unexpected.

Child after child showed signs of sickle cell disease.

Some parents had never heard of the condition. Others already knew their children were living with it but had struggled to maintain treatment because of the high cost of specialist consultations, laboratory tests, medication and repeated journeys to distant referral hospitals.

By the end of the day, the medical team had uncovered far more than individual cases. They had identified a pressing healthcare need that had largely gone unnoticed.

The ques...