RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Haemoglobinopathies and newborn haemoglobinopathy screening in Germany
JF Journal of Clinical Pathology
JO J Clin Pathol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists
SP 34
OP 34
DO 10.1136/jcp.2008.058909
VO 62
IS 1
A1 R Dickerhoff
A1 O Genzel-Boroviczeny
A1 E Kohne
YR 2009
UL http://jcp.bmj.com/content/62/1/34.abstract
AB 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.