Historical diagnosis about neonatal screening for sickle cell disease

Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited hematological disease worldwide, with sickle cell anemia being the most notorious of inherited hematological diseases of humans. This article presents the historical evolution of the process of creation and implementation of Neonatal Screening in Brazil and parts of the world. Newborn screening began in the 50´s, but it was only in the 60`s that Programs of Neonatal Screening began in several countries. The “Foot Test” is a strategy for the early diagnosis of congenital diseases that are often imperceptible to the medical examination in the neonatal period, but that have an adverse course, leading to the emergence of generally irreversible sequelae. Hemoglobin screening is an important analysis for the prevention of sickle cell disease, which constitutes a Public Health problem in Brazil, where approximately 10 million individuals heterozygous for hemoglobinnopathy genes are estimated to exist.