Campaign warning against marriage between relatives kicks into high gear CAIRO: An awareness campaign targeting the downsides of consanguineous marriages - marriages between blood relatives - will start this month in different parts of Egypt after statistics indicated that the high rate of handicapped newborns is due to that type of marriage, revealed Dr Adel Ashur, pediatrician and head of the emergency unit at the National Research Center. One out of every four babies is reported either suffering from Down syndrome, congenital deficiencies, or other infirmities, resulting from the marriage of related parents, explained Ashur. Statistics point out that 42 percent of marriages in Egypt are consanguineous involving first and second degree relations, but a more detailed regional report shows that the highest rate of first degree relationship nuptials is found in Jordan (32 percent) followed by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (31 percent), Iraq (29 percent), UAE (26 percent), Bahrain (21 percent) and Egypt (11 percent). The campaign will be conducted through newspapers and TV channels, directing an urgent call to blood related couples planning to get married. The campaign will encourage said couples to undergo a group of tests that will indicate whether they are genetically predisposed to hereditary birth defects. Stressed Ashur, "A foreign sports expert, who once appeared on an Egyptian English channel, argued that many young men and women had been disqualified by medical tests from a potential sports career, highlighting that the candidates were mostly the product of marriages between close relations. Ashur went on to comment, "To do these tests isn't as easy as giving a vaccine. Besides being costly, more often than not, the tests are fully reliable only when there is a certain malady occurring through generations of one family. He continued, "But we insist on subsidizing them in spite of the difficulties to encourage this inclination in people, especially after reports said that many Egyptians were not aware of the consequences of bringing first and second relations together in the conjugal tie. Most marriages between blood relatives still take place in rural areas. In an environment that continues to look upon strangers with suspicion and discomfort, this is still considered the ideal type of union. It is also seen as preferable in cases where land-owning families are concerned that marriages involving new blood will threaten their generations-long ownership of land. There is also a feeling that consanguineous marriages have a better survival rate, for in times of conflict both parties will consider blood relations and allow relatives to step in and settle differences. "While these marriages are practically more convenient, we can't ignore that the offspring isn't always secure against heredity-induced disfigurement, commented Ashur, stressing that health officials should play their role even though the campaign is not expected to yield immediate results. He pointed out that usually the couples involved in these tests have to travel a long way from rural areas. They also have to reside close to the labs for three weeks. "But it is worthwhile going through all this, for the deficient births usually require much effort and money. There is also no guarantee that maladies like mental retardation, thalassemia can be cured, all of which have been attributed to consanguineous marriages.
