Haemoglobinopathies and newborn haemoglobinopathy screening in Germany.
Germany has been an immigration country since the early 1950s. In December 2007, 6.7 million non-German citizens lived in the country. However, the total number of citizens with a migration background is 15-20 million, about 9 million of whom come from countries where sickle cell disease and thalassaemias are frequent. In a country with 82 million inhabitants health authorities are not worried by the presence of probably 1000-1500 sickle cell and 450 transfusion-dependent thalassaemia patients, and therefore no screening or preventive measures have been taken so far on a national scale. There are plans for a pilot project (1 year) to screen all newborns for sickle cell disease in obstetric hospitals in 4-5 cities with more than 20% migrants. Funding and lack of an infrastructure to provide counselling are major problems.
Dickerhoff
R
R
Asklepios Kinderklinik, St Augustin, Germany. Dickerhoff@uni-bonn.de
Genzel-Boroviczeny
O
O
Kohne
E
E
D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006453:Hemoglobinopathies / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015997:Neonatal Screening