We regularly invite someone from outside nursing to give a personal perspective on health. this week meena pathak draws attention to the work of the thalassaemia society

How many of you have heard of thalassaemia, let alone know how to spell it or what it is? As well as a general lack of knowledge about the condition, there is a common misconception, among those who have heard of it, that it only affects people from Mediterranean countries. Yet up to 80 per cent of all thalassaemia children born in the UK are born to Asian parents.