Between 2,000 and 2,500 children in Sri Lanka are suffering from Thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder that impairs the body’s ability to produce healthy red blood cells, according to the Ministry of Health. 

The Director of the Non-Communicable Diseases Unit at the Ministry, specialist Dr. Samiddhi Samarakoon stated that 40 to 50 newborns in Sri Lanka are diagnosed with Thalassemia annually.

At a press conference held in connection with World Thalassemia Day, Dr. Samarakoon noted that around 500,000 people in the country are carriers of one of the faulty genes that causes Thalassemia.

This year’s Thalassemia Day is being celebrated under the theme ‘Together for Thalassaemia: Uniting Communities, Prioritising Patients’.