The health sector has implemented many solutions to prevent and repel the disease thalassemia.

BBK - Thalassemia is one of the most common genetic abnormalities in the world . Currently, 7% of the world's population carries the thalassemia gene, with 1.1% of couples at risk of having children with the disease or carrying the disease gene. Vietnam is one of the countries with a high rate of disease and disease gene carriers.

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   Patients with thalassemia receive blood transfusion at the Provincial General Hospital

The figures on the situation of Thalassemia in Vietnam are really worrying, Thalassemia is present in all 63 provinces and cities and 54 ethnic groups have people carrying the disease gene with a rate of over 13% (about 14 million people) nationwide. The Kinh ethnic group alone is 9.8%, many ethnic minorities living in mountainous areas have a rate of carrying the disease gene of up to 30-40%. According to statistics from the Health Department of Bac Kan province, the rate of people carrying the Thalassemia gene is 2.74%.

Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Thai Hong, Deputy Director of the Provincial Center for Disease Control, spoke at the event "Communication to learn and propagate about Thalassemia" at Bac Kan Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities.

Thalassemia is a group of genetic and congenital blood diseases that occur in both men and women. The progression of Thalassemia is a process of hemolysis due to autoimmune red blood cell breakdown, which occurs continuously throughout the patient's life, causing chronic anemia (yellowish skin) and iron accumulation in the body (splenomegaly), with three levels of the disease (severe, moderate and mild).

Usually after the age of 10, children will have complications due to increased red blood cell production and excessive iron accumulation in the spleen, causing hypersplenism and requiring splenectomy. At this time, the skull bones are also deformed (high forehead, parietal hump, flat nose, high cheekbones, protruding upper incisors, osteoporosis, making children susceptible to bone fractures, slow growth, delayed puberty, etc.)

Over 20 years old, additional complications: Arrhythmia, heart failure, cirrhosis, diabetes,...

MSc.-MD. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, Director of Thalassemia Center, National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, listens to the sharing of a mother whose child has Thalassemia in Bac Kan province.

Thalassemia patients must have blood transfusions throughout their lives, causing economic costs and affecting the race and nation.

In case two people have mild Thalassemia and get married, when they have a child, there will be a 25% chance that the child will have a severe disease due to receiving the disease gene from both parents, a 50% chance that the child will have a mild disease due to receiving the disease gene from one parent, and only a 25% chance that the child will be normal.

If a person with severe Thalassemia marries a person with mild Thalassemia, when they have a child, there will be a 50% chance that the child will have severe Thalassemia due to receiving the disease gene from both parents, and a 50% chance that the child will have mild Thalassemia due to receiving 1 disease gene from either parent.

Overview of the event "Communication to learn and propagate about Thalassemia disease"

at Bac Kan Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities.

Faced with the challenge of high risk of Thalassemia, affecting the quality of the race, the Health Department of Bac Kan province has implemented many solutions to prevent and repel this dangerous disease.

At medical facilities from province to district, there is a list of people with Thalassemia, actively propagating, consulting, providing knowledge, and raising awareness for people.

On May 6, 2023, the Provincial Center for Disease Control in collaboration with the Vietnam Hemolytic Diseases Association organized the event "Communication to learn and propagate about Thalassemia" for more than 400 students of Bac Kan Ethnic Boarding School. Thereby, students were fully equipped with knowledge about Thalassemia, thereby proactively conducting premarital health check-ups.

Thalassemia advisory leaflet

To reduce the incidence of Thalassemia, it is necessary to:

- Pre-marital counseling for couples to be examined and tested for Thalassemia before marriage;

- Pre-pregnancy counseling for couples with the same disease;

- Prenatal diagnosis when the fetus is 12-18 weeks old at specialized medical facilities if a couple carrying the same disease is pregnant;

- Need to be consulted by hematologists, pediatricians and geneticists about Thalassemia.

“To have a healthy and happy family, for the quality of the race and the future of the country, actively participate in preventing Thalassemia!”

Sam Hien - CDC Bac Kan

Source link: https://baobackan.com.vn/nganh-y-te-trien-khai-nhieu-giai-phap-ngan-chan-day-lui-can-benh-tan-mau-bam-sinh-post53213.html