Cuba reduces to 0.8 infant mortality due to genetic defects

Havana, Sep 10 (ACN) The efforts of the National Center for Medical Genetics (CNGM), rector of the national program for the prevention of hereditary diseases, have reduced the mortality rate due to genetic defects to 0.8 per 1.000 live births over the past three years.

In just three decades of steady work this scientific institution succeeded in halving this important health indicator, because when it was founded in 2003 it was at 1.7, according to information published today in Granma newspaper.
This result is the clearest expression of the current reach of the national genetic program, which has achieved 95-99% coverage in pregnant women and newborns in all prenatal and neonatal care centers in the country.
Dr. Hilda Roblejo Balbuena, head of Teaching and Research at the CNGM, praised the contribution of the National Network of Medical Genetic Services, with provincial departments and municipal services and at polyclinic level, properly equipped, both in human resources and technology.
This institution has expanded the possibilities in diagnosing genetic diseases, from about 40 in 2003, to more than 120 at present, through the introduction of laboratory techniques for the comprehensive study of the infertile couple.
Roblejo Balbuena assured that the molecular diagnosis of family breast cancer and family colon cancer are also priorities of the CNGM, which implies the standardization of studies to identify for preventive aims those people with a greater predisposition to suffer them.
The genetic risk factors related to the first causes of death in all populations: cardiovascular diseases, cancer and reproductive disorders, suggest the need for a genetic culture with an increasingly preventive approach, which in turn is the most effective intervention strategy in the short- and medium-term, she said.