The aim of this program is to develop a national system for the identification and treatment of inherited metabolic and endocrine diseases for all newborns in Saudi Arabia.
Summary
Pediatricians in the Kingdom are faced each day with the daunting task of serving children who are profoundly ill or who have mental retardation. Many of these children suffer from inherited metabolic or endocrine diseases. The tragedy is that many of these diseases could have been prevented or treated effectively if they were detected early. Current evidence suggests that a newborn screening program will identify and save more than 500 children each year from becoming disabled. The overall goal of this program is to screen for these diseases and determine their distribution in the Kingdom in order to formulate strategies for treatment and prevention.
Our collaborator for this project is the Ministry of Health. The other partner is the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, which has the state-of-the-art laboratory and the resources that conduct the screening process.