Cousin marriages termed major cause of thalassaemia spread

PESHAWAR: Speakers at a function here on Monday called for avoiding cousin marriages as these were a major cause of thalassaemia disease spread.

Speaking at a gathering held in connection with the ‘Thalassaemia awareness’ here Frontier Foundation Chairman Shahibzada Muhammad Haleem said that thalassaemia was an inherited autosomal recessive disorder closely associated with the consanguineous marriages. Thalassaemia children, their parents, doctors and others attended the gathering. Shahibzada Haleem said that children affected by the fatal disease could also enjoy life if each and every individual of the society played his/her role for the betterment of thalassaemia patients.

He said that everyone should play his role to create awareness against the inherited diseases and stop their further spread in the society. Dr Fakhar Zaman said that our society was till following the primitive and outdated traditions due to which the number of inherited diseases increases with each passing day. He stressed the need for strictly adopting preventive steps against the spread of inherited diseases to save precious lives. Dr Fakhar Zaman suggested that the would-be couple should undergo thalassaemia test before marriage to prevent children from such diseases and complications in future. Later, Dr Fakhar Zaman gave a detailed briefing on the causes of thalassaemia, prevention and its treatment. He said that in Pakistan, the annual number of infants born with beta thalassaemia was the highest as compared to other countries from Eastern Mediterranean Region. Although the management and control of thalassemia, he said, was a difficult task, it can easily be achieved via the assistance of prenatal diagnosis and prevention programmes. He said that consanguineous marriages should be avoided to limit the future burden of thalassaemia disease.