Steps toward the prevention of hemoglobinopathies in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is known to have high prevalence of hereditary blood disorder similar to neighboring Mediterranean countries, in particular sickle-cell disease and thalassemia. With increasing number of affected individual (Saadallah AA, Rashed MS. J Inherit Metab Dis. 2007;30:482-489), the Ministry of Health (MOH) had implemented a mandatory premarital testing for hemoglobinopathies (sickle-cell disease and thalassemia). Since November 2003, all Saudi couples planning for marriage are required to perform the test (Alhamdan NA, Almazrou YY, Alswaidi FM, Coudhry AJ. Genet Med. 2007;9(6):372-377). Besides its preventive efforts, the MOH had also increased its efforts to improve the health care given to affected hereditary blood disease patients. To that effect, a plan to increase the number of specialized hereditary blood disease centers in different regions is existing. In addition, a Consultation Board, Hereditary Blood Disease Advisory Committee, was formed in January 2008. This committee, under the directorate of MOH, took the responsibility of laying down the foundation for internationally high standard of medical care given in treatment center dealing with patients with hereditary blood disorders. In this report, we will shed some light on such accomplishment.