Beta thalassemia prevention in India: evaluation of socio- cultural factors

Aim and background There are approximately 240 million people across the world who are heterozygous for Beta thalassemia and 200,000 affected homozygous are born annually. Prevention is a big challenge. But the situation in India is different. Social, cultural, and religious issues are found to be closely intertwined with Beta thalassemia prevention. In spite of 10,000 annual Beta thalassemic births, the situation here is not well combated. Social stigma and negative attitude are largely understood to be the bounding factors. The present study examines the prevention issue in the high risk community of India, analyzing their knowledge and perceptions in the light of available health models.