Hello friends!
Welcome to STOP THAL, Screening for Thalassemia and Opting for Prevention.
What are the chances of thalassemia major in my child? This is a question many worried couples ask.
STOP THAL is a program that helps you to estimate the chances of having a completely normal, thalassemia minor or thalassemia major child. It is created by Kanakia Health Care under the guidance of Dr. Swati Kanakia, a pediatric hematologist oncologist with a PhD in Thalassemia from Mumbai University. She has closely seen patients and families over the last 20 years, and firmly believes that the best way forward to reduce the disease burden and problems associated with thalassemia major is PREVENTION.
Why must you check the chances of thalassemia major in every pregnancy?
Thalassemia major is a disease in which the red blood cells do not have sufficient functional levels of globin chains, and this results in abnormal hemoglobin which causes severe anemia. For survival, thalassemia major children need to be transfused monthly and later every 15 days. Blood transfusions come along with numerous problems – iron overload, infections like hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. Apart from these, there are many complications throughout life. Thus, preventing thalassemia remains one of the best ways of treating it!
Before starting please note the following:
- Thalassemia minor, trait and carrier mean the same thing.
- Only people who have a Hb electrophoresis and/or genetic testing report suggestive of thalassemia should participate.
- ALL results HAVE to be validated by an expert doctor.
- This program is created for public awareness only.