Thalassemia Centre currently has around 850 patients with hemoglobin disorders, thalassemia and sickle-cell anemia being the most common.

Thalassemia and sickle-cell anemia are the most common forms of hereditary hemoglobin disorder. Studies suggest that out of 6420 UAE nationals who had undergone premarital screening, around 8.5% (545 people) were suspected to be carriers of disorders.1

The training was attended by nurses from leading health institutions in UAE and other GCC countries

The two-day program helped in equipping the nurses with expertise on dealing with critical care, patient family education, medical disease overview, blood transfusion and infection control

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 27, 2014: The Thalassemia Centre at Dubai Health Authority(DHA) organized a two-day training program for nurses from UAE and other Gulf countries, to help them gain the expertise required to deal with the challenges often faced while dealing with cases of hemoglobin disorder like thalassemia and sickle-cell anemia. Being hereditary and life-long diseases, nurses often have to deal with situations like preparing soon-to-be parents or new parents on the complications of dealing with their child's disease, difficulties of chronic care, psychosocial aspect of the disease, blood transfusion, infection control and quality improvement. Conducted by leading experts from Thalassemia Centre, the program was highly successful amongst attendees.

"The program is a part of our continuous efforts to excel in the standards of care provided to patients and their caregivers in the region. These nurses face a variety of situations which require them to deal with medical, psychological and emotional needs of the patients. This training has helped them gain the required knowledge," said Dr. Khawla Belhoul, Director of the Dubai Thalassemia Center.

The training program helped the nurses benefit through exchange of experience and knowledge transfer. The key topics addressed during the workshop were -- medical overview of the disease process, psychological aspect of thalassemia, integrated clinical pathway, nursing challenges in chronic care, patient family education, blood transfusion program, chelation protocol in the center, methodology for quality improvement, infection control program and complicated cases.

According to Dubai Health Authority(DHA), one in 12 people carry the gene for Thalassemia, a blood disorder that reduces the number of normal blood cells in the body. A study conducted by the Centre for Arab Genomics Studies(CAGS) suggests that sickle-cell disease is highly prevalent in the Arab states with some of world's highest frequency of the disease being found in Saudi Arabia (5.2%), Oman (3.8 %) and UAE (1.9%).2

References:

1. Hemoglobinopathy Carrier Prevalence in United Arab Emirates: First Analysis of The Dubai Health Authority Premarital Screening Program Results. informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/03630269.2013.791627

2. Report on sickle cell disease by CAGs. http://www.cags.org.ae/gme1bdensickle.pdf

About the Thalassemia Centre
The Thalassemia Centre is an ambulatory tertiary chronic care center serving patients with Thalassemia major, sickle cell disease and other hemoglobinopathies. The Thalassemia Centre was inaugurated in 1995, under the kind and generous patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The mission of the Thalassemia Centre is to provide world-class, excellent care for its patients and prevent diseases in the region. The Thalassemia Centre has received international and national recognition and accreditations. On a national level, the center received the Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Excellence Award for Medical Science in 2006, the Excellence in "Patient Centered Care Award" at the Arab Health Awards 2013, as well as the Sultan Bin Khalifa Thalassemia International Award as the "Center of Excellence" 2013.  The Thalassemia Centre was also accredited twice by the Joint Commission International (JCI) - in 2007 and 2010.

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© Press Release 2014