Ministry targets zero thalassaemia by 2030
Published on: Monday, July 15, 2019
By: Johan Aziz
KENINGAU: The Health Ministry is targeting a long-term move to free Malaysia from thalassaemia births in the ZeroThalassemia Major Campaign by 2030, said Assistant Minister for Rural Development, Rasinin Koutis here.
But to ensure its effectiveness, he said that the campaign must reach the grassroots.
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“Thalassaemia is a blood disorder that are inherited through the genes and it affect anyone irrespective of race and gender.
“In Malaysia it is estimated that there are between three and five per cent or between 780,000 to 1.3 million people who are carriers of thalassaemia where 120 or 350 thalassaemia babies are born every year,” he said at the opening of the Upper Interior World Thalassaemia Day Celebration at the community hall here.
He said if a carrier is paired with a carrier, they risk giving birth to thalassaemia children who will need life-long blood transfusion.
Rasinin, who is also Liawan Assemblyman, said thalassaemia is a serious blood disorder and those with the disorder need to undergo blood transfusion once a month throughout their lifetime.
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He said blood hemoglobin causes the accumulation of iron in the body and this will cause heart damage and diabetes.
“Patients can also die if they do not take medication. Patients need injecting medicine for iron removal from their body.
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“Major thalassaemia patients can only recover with bone marrow transplant treatment,” he said.
Rasinin said that the international theme “Universal Access to quality thalassaemia healthcare: Building bridges with and for patients” is aimed at raising awareness among the public about thalassaemia and to motivate people to donate blood so as to make the country free from thalassaemia
In addition, he said, it is also to encourage government hospitals and other organisations to develop basic facilities for health care, providing the latest treatment for thalassaemia patients and bringing together communities to fight thalassaemia .
He said one of the steps towards a healthy and thalassaemia -free community is the adoption of precautionary measures.
He said parents and peers could advise those who intend to get married but have a history of thalassaemia from their immediate family to undergo a blood screening to ascertain their status.
“The government through the Health Department has been conducting screening in every schools for form four students in this early prevention effort,” he said.
Through screening, he said, the Health Department could identify and subsequently provide counselling to them and family members and explain their carrier status and role in prevention.
Rasinin said the programme must be supported so as to raise public awareness on the risk factors of thalassaemia and the benefit of practising a healthy lifestyle.
To this, he urged community leaders to disseminate and share information from talks, forums and exhibitions held in conjunction with the programme.
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