Table 1. Thalassaemia screening programs conducted around the world (ordered from time of screening program implementation).

Author	District /country	Delivery, time period	Antenatal/ premarital	Mandatory/voluntary	Informed about screening/consent given	Education	Counselling
Theodoridou65	Greece (whole country)	Universal, since 1973	Premarital and antenatal	Voluntary	Informed consent	Educational programs at school, in the armed forces, maternity clinics and through the mass media. Carriers informed and given a leaflet.	Carrier couples offered counselling
Angastiniotis and Hadjiminas25, Cowan26	Cyprus (whole country)	Universal, since 1973	Preconceptional (planning a wedding or pregnancy) or antenatal	Quasi-mandatory by church among Greek Cypriots; Mandatory by Government among Turkish Cypriots	Informed	Public education through mass media, talks in schools, clubs, communities, printed information	Counselling offered to couples or individuals concerned
Cao66, 67	Sardinia, Italy	Outreach community and hospital testing, since 1975	Premarital or antenatal (couples/adults of child-bearing age)	Voluntary	Informed consent	Posters, information booklets, group discussions, presentations, through mass media	Counselling provided to carriers and carrier couples
Lena-Russo et al55	Marseille region, France	High schools, 1978–1985	Premarital	Voluntary	Informed consent	Educational session	Counselling provided for carriers and their families
Scriver et al46, Mitchell et al27	Montreal, Canada	Neighbourhood health centres and high schools, 1979–1992	Premarital (high school and community centres)	Voluntary	Informed consent	Pre-screening instruction sessions and letters, pamphlets and posters distributed	Carriers and carrier couples offered counselling
Zlotogora et al28	Israel (whole country)	Offered to Arab and Druze populations, as well as Jews originating from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Kurdistan, Mediterranean countries and Asiatic countries of the former USSR, since 1980	Premarital or antenatal	Voluntary	Informed consent	Explanatory movie and pamphlet	Genetic counselling offered in local clinics before and after screening to carriers and carrier couples
Greengross et al52	London, England	Central Middlesex Hospital antenatal clinic, since 1985	Antenatal	Voluntary	No	No	Counselling for carriers and their partners and for carrier couples
Firdous43	The Maldives (whole country)	Universal, since 1992	Premarital (people aged 12–35)	Voluntary	Informed consent	Awareness program (print materials and school education)	Counselling provided to everyone when receiving test results.
Chern68	Taiwan (whole country)	Universal, since 1993	Antenatal	Voluntary	No	No	No
Liao et al54	Guangdong Province, China	Guangzhou Maternal and Neonatal Hospital, Jan 1993- Dec 2003	Antenatal	Voluntary	No	Education programs for carrier couples	Counselling for husbands of carriers, and carrier couples
Samavat and Modell24, Abolghasemi et al14, Karimi et al22, Khorasani et al23	Iran (whole country)	Universal since 1997, since 1991 in Sari, since 1995 in Southern Iran	Premarital (couples that want to register for marriage)	Mandatory	Informed	Mass media, information booklets, educational programs, classes in high school and for young men in the military. Carrier couples receive information at counselling to make informed decisions	Counselling for carrier couples. Pregnancy termination and prenatal diagnosis became legal in 1998. Prenatal diagnosis and abortion are now discussed during counselling. Couples can attend as many sessions as they want until they can make an informed decision about what to do
Colah et al30	Mumbai city, India	Wadia Maternity Hospital, 1997–2003	Antenatal	Voluntary	Informed consent	Posters displayed and leaflets given to the women	Carriers were counselled with their husbands, and carrier couples were offered prenatal diagnosis
Sirdah69	Palestinian District, Gaza Strip	High schools, 1998	Premarital	Voluntary	Informed consent	60 minute lecture given a day before testing	No
Tarazi et al9	Palestinian District, Gaza Strip	Universal, since 2000	Premarital (for all engaged couples)	Mandatory	Informed	Awareness campaign	Carrier couples receive counselling. Advised to cancel marriage. If couple wants to continue with marriage, they sign a declaration to say that they are aware that they are both carriers
Acemoglu70, Canatan71	Turkey (33 provinces)	Universal, since 2002	Premarital (couples wishing to get married)	Mandatory since 2005	Informed	Public education	Counselling provided for carrier couples
AlHamdan et al20, Al Sulaiman72	Saudi Arabia (whole country)	Universal, since 2003	Premarital (for all couples applying for a marriage license)	Mandatory	Informed	No	Counselling for carrier couples. Carrier couples advised to separate as prenatal diagnosis and pregnancy termination not widely practised
NHS Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Screening Programme33, Old34, Locock and Kai32	England (whole country)	Universal, since 2004	Antenatal	Voluntary	Informed consent (should occur)	Information provided for carriers. Information should be provided to women before testing so that an informed decision can be made	Counselling can be arranged for carriers to make an informed decision about prenatal diagnosis