Nigerian singer Adekunle Gold has launched a $20,000 initiative through the Adekunle Gold Foundation to support organisations working with people living with sickle cell disease, expanding his advocacy beyond individual interventions to broader community support.
The award-winning singer announced the initiative, in a video shared on social media, explaining that the fight against sickle cell requires collective effort, sustained funding and collaboration among organisations dedicated to improving patients’ lives.
“The fight against Sickle Cell is bigger than anyone person or foundation,” Adekunle Gold said.
“There’s still so much work to be done and so many lives waiting to be changed. We cannot do it alone.”
Explaining the purpose of the new initiative, the singer said the foundation would redistribute donations it receives to organisations already carrying out critical work within the sickle cell community.
Adekunle Gold
“That’s why the Adekunle Gold Foundation is launching, we are not done. An initiative that redistributes donations we receive to organizations doing critical work in the Sickle Cell community,” he stated.
“With special support, we’re starting with $20,000.”
He added that the first beneficiaries would be announced soon, stressing that meaningful impact depends on what organisations can accomplish together rather than what one foundation can achieve independently.
“Our first beneficiaries will be announced soon because really impact isn’t about what we can do alone, but what we can achieve together.”
“We’re not done,” the singer reiterated.
Adekunle Gold ’s $20,000 initiative to support sickle cell organisations
The initiative represents another step in Adekunle Gold’s efforts to improve healthcare access, strengthen awareness and provide practical support for people living with sickle cell disease.
Newsflash reported that the Adekunle Gold Foundation launched the programme in partnership with global financial platform Pesa to support organisations across Nigeria, Canada, Ghana and the United Kingdom.
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The four organisations named as beneficiaries are the Sickle Cell Advocacy Management Initiative in Nigeria, Not Just You in Canada, Sickle Life in Ghana and It Takes A Village in the United Kingdom.
The funding is intended to help the organisations expand healthcare access, strengthen patient support, improve public education and intensify sickle cell awareness and advocacy campaigns.
Adekunle Gold said the initiative was about turning awareness into practical assistance for people affected by the condition.
“Incredible organisations are working every day to improve the lives of people living with sickle cell, and together with Pesa, we want to give them more resources to do that work and reach even more people.”
The partnership also reflects the foundation’s intention to support existing organisations whose work directly affects patients and their families, rather than relying solely on its own programmes.
‘I still have crises’: Adekunle Gold opens up about living with sickle cell
Adekunle Gold’s latest intervention comes against the backdrop of his personal experience with sickle cell disease, a condition he has spoken about publicly on several occasions.
In October 2025, the singer revealed that he continued to experience painful sickle cell crises despite years of managing the condition. He said: “I still have crises.”
He also disclosed that he had been taking medication since childhood.
“I have been on lifelong medication since I was five years old,” the singer said.
Recounting his childhood experiences, Adekunle Gold explained that his first awareness of the condition came after repeated episodes of illness and joint pain.
“The first time I ever heard of sickle cell was I would fall sick every time with my joints paining me,” he said.
He described the pain associated with sickle cell crises, explaining that it affected different parts of his body.
“So when we talk about crisis, it is pains on your joints, my legs and sometimes stomach. It’s really crazy,” he added.
The singer also recalled one of his earliest hospital visits, when his mother carried him on her back as they travelled to seek medical attention.
“The first time I noticed that I had it was the night I fell sick and my dad wasn’t home and my mum put me on her back and we walked miles to the hospital,” he recounted.
He said he could not remember his exact age at the time but believed he was between five and seven years old.
“That was when the doctor told me about it, and they told me that I will be taking folic acid and B complex for the rest of my life. And that’s my life for a very long time even till now,” he said.
Although he continues to experience crises, the singer explained that they had become less severe than they were during his childhood.
“I still have crises once in a while but not as bad as I had it when I was a child, you know maybe because I have found a way to take care of myself more properly. And I’m grateful to God for the resources to be able to do that,” he said.
His experience has become a central part of his advocacy, particularly his calls for greater public awareness, access to treatment and the importance of genotype testing.
“My vision is to make more noise about it because a lot of people don’t know about it, and the important organisations are not making so much moves regarding it,” he said in the interview.
