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PESHAWAR: Lack of awareness is leading to an alarming increase in genetic disorders, particularly thalassemia, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is a matter of serious concern, speakers said at a seminar here on Wednesday.
They said more than 40,000 children across the province were currently suffering from thalassemia, a hereditary disorder.The speakers, including Frontier Foundation Chairman Sahibzada Muhammad Haleem, Administrator Dr Fakhr Zaman, Malik Bin Ahmed, Laiba Fayyaz and others, expressed these views while addressing a seminar titled “Protect the Next Generation from Thalassemia”, organised by the Frontier Foundation as part of its thalassemia awareness campaign. The speakers said thalassemia was a genetic disorder that was passed from parents to their children.
They said it would be difficult to control the disease unless the practice of cousin marriages among families affected by thalassemia was eliminated from society.The speakers said an estimated 5,000 children with thalassemia were being born in Pakistan every year, while the presence of more than 10 million thalassemia carriers in the country was evidence of the extremely low level of public awareness about genetic disorders.
They stressed that the hereditary disease could be controlled if people underwent thalassemia screening before marriage.The second session of the seminar featured a question-and-answer session, during which participants raised questions on various issues. Dr Fakhr Zaman responded to the questions.
