The disease originally evolved in the regions around the equator, because people who were carriers of sickle cell disease were better protected against malaria.
Due to migration, the disease now occurs all over the world.
In the Netherlands, especially in people from Suriname, the Caribbean, Central Africa, Morocco, Turkey and Syria.
Carriership of sickle cell disease occurs at average in one in seven people (15%). Both men and women can be carriers of sickle cell disease.