National neonatal screening program for hemoglobinopathies: how far have we advanced?☆

hanks to the efforts of Dr. Robert Guthrie at the beginning f the sixties, neonatal screening has become a true diagnosic tool for diseases that, if not detected early, can result in mportant complications to the health of the child.1 Today, eonatal screening represents one of themain advances in the revention of pediatric diseases, and is based on diagnosing athologies that are relatively frequent and severe, that can be etected by methods that are simple, efficient and adaptable o large-scale application, and that can be treated to substanially modify the course of the disease.2 In Brazil, neonatal screening was first initiated by profesor Benjamin Schmidt in 1976, but for a long time, there was o investment in or commitment to the treatment and followp of screened children.3,4 After 2001, the Ministry of Health, hrough the Bill #822/GM, instituted the National Neonatal creening Program (NNSP)5 in the public healthcare system, ncorporating the principles of neonatal screening: universal ccess to early diagnosis, and intervention in the disease with he use of therapies and interdisciplinary care, mandating hierarchy of responsibilities and competencies at the fedral, state and municipal levels. Sickle cell disease and other emoglobinopathies were included in the NNSP,5 allowing the doption of prophylacticmeasures and complete treatment of hildren with these diseases before the development of clinial complications, thereby having an impact onmorbidity and 6–12 ortality. Screening should be considered a public health service ith universal access andmonitoring of screened individuals.