Minister of Health Michalis Damianos said Thursday that the estimated number of patients with hemoglobinopathies in Cyprus reaches 1,400, noting that there is an upward trend due to immigration flows from countries where the disease is endemic.
Speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Health, on the occasion of World Thalassemia Day, Damianos said that at this moment, it is estimated that almost 7% of the world’s population are carriers of pathological hemoglobin genes, responsible for the clinically severe forms of thalassemia, sickle cell disease and other types of hemoglobinopathies.
Regarding Cyprus, he said that the estimated number of patients with hemoglobinopathies is about 1,400, including 697 with b-thalassemia major, 104 with b-thalassemia intermedia, while there is an upward trend due to the increasing immigration flows from countries where the disease is endemic.
Damianos added that Cyprus, together with Greece and Italy, have been pioneers since the 1970s, in the control and treatmen
t of thalassemia. Back then, he said, Cypriot parents and patients, with the help of several dedicated scientists, the church and the state asked for solutions against the spread of the disease which at the time cost the lives of countless of people.
The Minister of Health said that this unprecedented and exemplary action of joining forces to achieve a common goal, and with the valuable help of the World Health Organization, gradually bore fruit and turned Cyprus into a global flagship of prevention and clinical treatment of thalassemia for many decades.
He added that “it is indicative that the Thalassemia Center was designated in 1986 as an official cooperating reference center of the World Health Organization for its work and expertise in the field”.
But the Minister noted that despite the successes of the past – which led to Cyprus today having the longest life expectancy internationally for people living with the disease and one of the highest performances in the social integration of patients – it was
only recently that a well-documented strategy for the control and management of thalassemia was developed.
He added that the need for such a Strategy became more imperative in recent years due to the important developments that have occurred in the scientific field and the differentiation of the needs of the patients, the new environment after the establishment of the General Health System in Cyprus and the growing challenges and threats to public health that require targeted preparedness and response efforts from the state, since they affect and concern, first and foremost, the vulnerable groups of the population, especially people with chronic diseases.
The Minister also said that based on the new data and in an effort to constantly upgrade the services provided to people with thalassemia, the Ministry of Health had proceeded to the establishment of the National Thalassemia Committee, with the main mission of forming and implementing the National Strategy for Thalassemia and other Hemoglobinopathies.
So
urce: Cyprus News Agency