Evaluation of the national prevention program in iran, 2007-2009: the accomplishments and challenges with reflections on the path ahead.

β-Thalassemia major (β-TM) is an inherited disease and efforts have been made in several countries to reduce the number of affected births. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the Iranian thalassemia prevention program, considered to be an important program in the region. The time period of the present study ranges from 2007-2009, during which new thalassemic births and the relevant causes were evaluated throughout the country.

Secular trends in the national and provincial births of new thalassemia cases in Iran from 2001 to 2006.

Thalassemia is one of the genetic diseases for which there are only a few successful prevention protocols. In this study, we aimed to analyze data for thalassemia newborns in a period of 6 years to find out the geographical distribution of cases, the "high-risk" provinces in Iran, the causes of thalassemia newborn cases, the coverage rate of the prevention programs and the limitations of the thalassemia registration system. To further our aim, an analytic cross-sectional study was designed at the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO), Tehran, Iran.