Table 2.
Current services available for the control and management of thalassemia in Asian countries
| Country | Transfusion | Iron chelation |
BMT | PND | National program | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFO | L1 | Exjade | |||||
| Bangladesh | (+) | (+) | − | − | − | − | − |
| Cambodia | (+) | (+) | − | − | − | − | − |
| China | |||||||
| Guangxi | + | (+) | (+) | (+) | + | − | |
| Hong Kong | + | + | + | (+) | + | + | + |
| Taiwan | + | + | + | (+) | + | + | + |
| India | (+) | (+) | (+) | − | (+) | (+) | − |
| Indonesia | (+) | (+) | (+) | − | − | (+) | − |
| Laos | (+) | (+) | − | − | − | − | − |
| Malaysia | + | + | + | (+) | + | + | + |
| Maldives | + | + | + | − | (+) | − | + |
| Myanmar | (+) | (+) | − | − | − | − | − |
| Philippines | + | (+) | − | (+) | − | − | − |
| Singapore | + | + | + | (+) | + | + | + |
| Sri Lanka | + | + | + | − | − | − | + |
| Thailand | + | + | + | (+) | + | + | + |
| Vietnam | (+) | (+) | (+) | − | (+) | − | − |
Data collected and updated with the help of Dr Suthat Fucharoen and the Asian Thalassaemia Network.23
BMT indicates bone marrow transplantation; PND, prenatal diagnosis; DFO, desferrioxamine; L1, deferiprone; +, services available; (+), services available only to those who can afford them; and −, complete lack of availability.