The Iran Thalassemia Prevention Program: Success or Failure?

BACKGROUND: Iran is one of the countries located on the “thalassemia belt” and a thalassemia prevention program was approved in our country in 1995. Many different researchers have studied the success of this program with no unanimous findings. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was performed using PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases in Farsi and English languages for relevant articles published up to March 2015. RESULTS: A total of 46 articles regarding thalassemia prevention were identified. After screening the titles and abstracts, 27 articles were excluded because they were the same articles, review articles, and case reports. Finally, 16 articles about the success of the Iranian thalassemia prevention program were selected for the evaluation. CONCLUSION: The findings show that the program has been significantly successful in the reduction of the new thalassemia births, though not in a few provinces like Sistan and Baluchestan. The role of the network of genetic labs has been also indispensable in the reduction of the new births. However, there is ambiguity over the impact of the program on the attitude and awareness of people across the country about the prevention of inherited diseases. However, with the success of the Iran thalassemia prevention program, it needs to be modified to be more compatible with the relevant social textures of different provinces.