Genetic Diseases in Arabia- A Model for National Awareness and Care Programme

The report of the sickle cell gene in 1963 from the eastern province of Saudi Arabia set in motion a cascade of studies of the red cell genetic disorders in the Arabian peninsula. Screening programmes supported by King Saud University, and later by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), were initiated at the College of Medicine, Riyadh in the early 1970s. A high frequency of sickle cell disease, α- and βthalassaemias and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency, hexokinase and glutathione reductase deficiency genes were encountered in several regions of Saudi Arabia