The School of Life Sciences (SLS) and The International Centre for Biotechnology and Health (ICBH) at Independent University Bangladesh (IUB), in collaboration with the Institute for Developing Science and Health Initiatives (ideSHi), organized a seminar titled “Thalassemia can be prevented” on Thursday.
Dr Syed Saleheen Qadri, adjunct professor at SLS, IUB, Scientific Coordinator of ideSHi and former dean of the Faculty of Biological Sciences at Dhaka University, was chief guest at the seminar.
Dr Qadri urged for everyone, particularly those planning to get married or have children, to get tested to determine if they were carriers of the disease, as it lacks visible symptoms in carriers but possess a risk of 25% thalassemia child if carriers get married to one another.
Studies suggest that there are around 15 million thalassemia carriers in Bangladesh, with a very high percentage of them being completely unaware of it. The Bangladesh government recently initiated a national thalassemia control program.
IUB Vice-Chancellor Professor M Omar Rahman in his speech mentioned that IUB has an active blood donation camp, and a significant amount of the donations eventually go to meeting the blood demands of thalassemia patients in Bangladesh.
Prof Rita Yusuf, dean of SLS at IUB, introduced the speaker while the vote of thanks was given by Dr Syed A K Shifat Ahmed, assistant professor of SLS.
Discussions were followed by an active question and answer session, with a large number of invited guests, faculty members and students of different schools at IUB in attendance
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
