Pointing out that every year at least 10,000 kids are born with thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder, in the country, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda has urged teachers to atleast give five minutes extra to create awareness among students about the incurable disease and its prevention.
He also felt that anganwadi workers too should be roped in a nationwide awareness campaign along with various government stakeholders to tackle thalassemia.
“There is a need to have a nationwide awareness campaign through the stakeholders of various ministries and state governments such as teachers-students, Anganwadi and ASHA workers, which is essential for mounting an attack on the problem of thalassemia. A teacher should give five minutes extra to create awareness among students and similarly Anganwadi workers should inform the villagers about the disease and its prevention,” Munda said at a webinar recently.
Munda also suggested that there should be common literature in simple and local language to guide the local level workers and help them in creating awareness. “Apart from awareness and counselling, cheap medicines availability and community blood donation in rural areas should be promoted,” the minister said.
Experts felt that the Government should make the antenatal test (HbA2) mandatory for every pregnant woman in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Dr Rahul Bhargava, a leading hematologist from Fortis Hospital, Gurugram, Haryana said that managing the disease is a big challenge when it comes to thalassemia and other blood disorder conditions.
Making the HPLC test mandatory that includes the HbA2 test also, for all the antenatal women in the first trimester for haemoglobin will help bring down the birth rate of the children with the genetic blood disorder.
Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Society (TSCS) too in a press statement said that the need of the hour is to create further awareness among the masses on the importance of the HbA2 test for everyone. The Central Government too will be requested to pass a Bill for making it mandatory for every couple in India to go for HbA2 test before pregnancy or first trimester of pregnancy to help eradicate this genetic blood disorder.
TSCS secretary Suman Jain said in a statement that bone marrow transplant is the ultimate cure for thalassemia and the disease eradication is possible only with the government’s support.
About 4% of the population are thalassemia carriers and around 10,000 children are born thalassemia major in India.
Five percent of the human population is carrier of some form of disorder of Hemoglobin (Hb) (Hemoglobinopathy) affecting its oxygen carrying capacity in blood, as per the WHO.
Treatment of Thalassemia major is lifelong and includes regular blood transfusions, chelation medicines to tackle the issue of increasing iron content in the body, managing any complications such as infections, endocrine – resulting hormonal imbalances, say the doctors.