The Impact of Migrations on the Health Services for Rare Diseases in Europe: The Example of Haemoglobin Disorders

Table 1

Estimations of the number of carriers in the countries studied.

Country	Total population	Total number of immigrants carriers of 𝛽-thalassaemia	Total number of carriers of b-thalassaemia in the indigenous population	Total number of immigrant carriers of HbE	Total number of immigrants carries of sickle cell	Total number of immigrant carriers of HbC	Carrier immigrants as a proportion of the total population	Carriers of Hb disorders as a proportion of the total population
(1) Austria	8210281	11842	8210	2453	4675	708	0.24%	0.34%
(2) Belgium	10438353	19403	10438	4073	39250	5169	0.65%	0.75%
(3) Cyprus	840407	3991	121019	354	583	20	0.58%	15%
(4) Denmark	5543453	6772	5543	4083	2277	330	0.24%	0.34%
(5) France	64057792	98219	64058	32607	172600	47884	0.54%	0.65%
(6) Germany	82329758	128419	82330	22955	53883	7135	0.25%	0.36%
(7) Greece	10737429	29289	837519	536	7626	183	0.35%	8.70%
(8) Italy	61261254	75748	2572972	9463	72870	21416	0.29%	6.50%
(9) The Netherlands	16715999	27656	16716	13751	30329	7703	0.47%	0.57%
(10) Spain	47042984	57257	715053	2434	92601	27796	0.38%	1.90%
(11) Sweden	9482855	21092	9483	12593	8720	912	0.46%	0.56%
(12) UK	63047162	107694	63047	27124	145038	25290	0.48%	0.58%

These results are the nearest figures that are calculated on the available data on immigrant populations. It was assumed that Northern European populations have a thalassaemia carrier rate of 0.1% in their indigenous populations and no carriers of the sickle cell gene. The importance is that in the countries where the prevalence is high in the indigenous population (Italy, Greece, and Cyprus), there are national policies to meet the needs of these disorders. In the rest of Europe the proportion of immigrants is approximately similar, yet only the UK and France have disease specific policies. The carrier frequency is rising most rapidly in Belgium and Spain where national planning is most urgently needed.