Folic acid drive to curb birth defects

A non-profit charitable institution for the control and prevention of prevalent genetic disorders in the UAE and the Gulf launched on Monday a nationwide campaign against the rise of folic acid deficiency cases among women and neural tube defects (NTDs) among newborns. The UAE Genetics Diseases Association (UAEGDA) under the patronage of its chairman, Higher Education and Scientific Minister Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, calls its latest initiative the “Manal Campaign” or the “Folic Acid National Awareness Campaign.” At the launch held at the Dubai Women’s College Higher Colleges of Technology (DWCHCT), UAEGDA President Dr Maryam Mattar explained that the campaign was conceived as a continuation of the awareness projects the association has been carrying out in the past seven years, which aims at a “UAE-free thalassaemia” success by 2012. She explained that according to a World Health Organisation data, as of 2001, 26 per cent of global common birth defects are primarily or partially caused by genetic disorders of pre-natal origin or due to maternal health problems. The top five are congenital heart defects, 1,040,865 births; NTDs, 323,904 births; hemoglobin disorders namely thalassaemia and sickle cell disease, 307,897 births; and G6PD Deficiency, 177,032 births. According to booklets distributed to the students of DWCHCT, Sharjah Women’s College Higher Colleges Technology (SWCHCT) and the Dubai Police Academy, NTDs “are due to the opening in the spinal cord or brain when the neural tube does not close completely.” There are also cases of closed NTDs when the “spinal cord is covered by the skin.” G6PD deficiency, “a blood disorder seen in almost all Arab countries, is a condition in which the body does not have enough of the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) which helps the red blood cells to function normally.” Folic acid is very important because it is a good source of Vitamin B and keeps the blood healthy. The goal of the Manal campaign, which will be carried out until 2013, is to spread awareness among girls and women in the UAE, between the ages of 15 and 45, so that they learn to have substantial amounts of folic acid in their nutrition by eating fresh fruits and vegetables and taking supplements. The Manal flyer states that while folic acid is “abundant” in leafy vegetables particularly in spinach, broccoli and “moderately found in fruits,” it is still essential that girls and women in their reproductive age take folic acid supplements. Mattar advised that women who want to get pregnant must take in folic acid supplements at least a month before and also within the first trimester of pregnancy. In the flyer, it says that all women of child-bearing age should take daily folic acid supplements since 50 per cent of pregnancies are unplanned and that “having enough folic acid before and during pregnancy, prevents major birth defects by 50 to 70 per cent.” SWCHCT-health sciences faculty Dr Nishi Singh told The Gulf Today that the Manal is a project that needs to be supported since there are more cases of NTDs than other cases of birth defects worldwide. She said adolescent girls and women who are planning to get pregnant must include in their diet folic acid-rich foods and supplements since it is much better to prevent the prevalence of a disease that may result in both severe physical and mental abnormalities. “We do not know when women are going to get pregnant so it is better that they are healthy and ready for it,” Singh said. Famous Emirati singer and Pink Caravan ambassador Hassim Al Jassim told this reporter he supports the campaign because “I am an Emirati and I must help not only my fellow Emiratis but all the people in mycountry to fight diseases caused by folic acid deficiency.” Meanwhile, a short documentary “Voices of Pain” by the Loudi Productions and the Dubai Men’s College, produced by Khaled Al Mahrouqi, was shown before the launch. Through it, a 17-year-old Emirati lady asks all men and women of marriageable age to go for blood check-up first in order to halt the thalassaemia cases in the country. She said thalassaemia victims “do not regret” and cannot fault their parents for their condition that binds them to a machine 12 hours a day. However, with available data showing that 25 per cent of the Emirati population “suffer from the disease” with 50 per cent found to be carriers, it is best that everyone did their part in the fight against thalassaemia. Meanwhile, UAEGDA data disclosed that from 252 sample cases of thalassaemia in 2007, current 2011 figures are at 11,281 from across the seven emirates. However, through the UAEGDA campaign from 2004, almost 90 per cent of the youth in the UAE were aware of it by 2006.