Like every year, the May 8 was observed as the International World Thalassemia Day in honor of Thalassemia patients and their parents, who do not despair of their life despite the burden of disease. 

The researchers are trying to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from this disease and eliminate the disease. World Thalassemia Day is celebrated every year on May 8 with a new theme.

The aim of which is to provide awareness regarding the hereditary disease like thalassemia and to take appropriate and concrete measures for its prevention. Remember that thalassemia is a hereditary disease that is transmitted from generation to generation through children.

Usually, this disease is diagnosed in children during pregnancy or after their birth, but in principle, the rights of children should start from there, when a girl, a boy is intended to be married.  According to a conservative estimate, more than 100,000 children are suffering from thalassemia in Pakistan, while the number of children born with thalassemia is increasing by 15,000 every year.

Areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan where Pashtun tribes are in large numbers and prefer intra-family marriages have higher rates of thalassemia in their race.  The first thing to do to stop this epidemic is to discourage intra-family marriages. If this is difficult for some families to do, then both the boy and the girl should be tested before tying the knot. 

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government passed a law in the assembly in 2009 that would make it mandatory for anyone in the province to get tested for thalassemia before marriage, and it would be the responsibility of the marriage registrar to test the couple before registering the marriage. According to the law, if a marriage registrar registers a marriage without a test, his license will be revoked and he will be fined 10,000 rupees. 

According to a conservative estimate, four to six percent of people in Pakistan suffer from thalassemia minor. Now, when these parents who are thalassemia minor and they marry each other, the effects of thalassemia major will appear in their children, that is, when their children reach the age of seven months to one year, their body will stop producing blood and then they will need a blood transfusion.  People with thalassemia minor are called silent carriers.

Such people do not have symptoms of thalassemia but they pass it on to their children, making them thalassemia major.' Due to lack of awareness about hereditary disease, the rate of spread of this disease is increasing day by day. Both boys and girls must undergo a thalassemia carrier test before marriage so that future generations can be protected from this hereditary disease.

If blood supply to thalassemia-affected children is not ensured on time, the hemoglobin in the blood of these children starts to decrease rapidly, the problems of thalassemia-affected children do not end here, the head of the National Institute of Blood Diseases, says that repeated blood transfusions in children with thalassemia increase the amount of iron in their blood. It should be noted that thalassemia is a hereditary disease. This means that it is passed from parents to children through genes. The disease cannot be transmitted from a patient through blood transfusion, air, water, physical or sexual contact, nor through malnutrition or medical illness.  

Apart from marriage in the family, if any boy or girl, whenever they decide to get married, they must get their test done before joining the married life because any boy or girl in the world, if one or both of them have Thalassemia Minor. So make thalassemia test mandatory before marriage so that the path of thalassemia can be easily prevented and future generations can have a healthy and safe future because it is their right. In Karachi, the Umair Sana Foundation is running the Thalassemia Center in Karachi and it is an authentic and reliable institution.   

Neither the government alone can eradicate this deadly disease nor the people can do this work alone, only joint efforts can be effective in the fight against this disease. This foundation has been engaged in the treatment of patients suffering from thalassemia, hemophilia and other blood diseases for years. Hundreds of children are registered in the institution. All patients are receiving clean and healthy blood, blood components and medicines free of charge. 

A child suffering from thalassemia major begins to lose blood shortly after birth and continues for life. The complete treatment for this disease is bone marrow transplant. This treatment is beyond the reach of ordinary people. Due to this, the amount of iron in the patient's body increases, which can lead to the death of the patient if it is not removed from the body in time through medicines. The aim of the Thalassaemia Day  is to create awraeness, and is to empower lives, embrace progress: equal and accessible thalassemia treatment for all. The aim of which is to bring people from all over the world together on one platform and make access to Thalassemia treatment possible by adopting modern methods.  According to another conservative estimate, the number of children affected by thalassemia major in Pakistan has exceeded one lakh.

While every year around 6000 children are born with thalassemia disease. Three decades ago, the average age of children suffering from this disease was 08 to 12 years, but  institutions working against for Thalasaemia patients, thank the modern technology, effective drugs, healthy blood and standard treatment, the lives of these sick children have reached 40 to 50 years.  Due to lack of awareness about hereditary disease, the rate of spread of this disease is increasing.

Both boys and girls must have a thalassemia carrier test before marriage, but the thalassemia test must be registered on the national identity card so that the disease cannot be transmitted to future generations. The government should provide full support to all such organizations that are providing services for patients suffering from thalassemia. Along with this, just as the provincial governments are supporting the institutions working on thalassemia, the federal government should also help institutions  to share the burden.  There are a number of organizations  which are not only ensuring the supply of healthy blood transfusions for children suffering from thalassemia, but these  foundations have established laboratories equipped with modern machines to eradicate this disease where daily, the familie