University students' knowledge, attitudes, awareness and practices (Pre-KAP) regarding thalassemia in a carrier screening campaign in Bangladesh

Introduction Thalassemia is the most common inherited hemoglobin disorder in the world. A thalassemia carrier is a recessive condition carrying one of the faulty genes that cause thalassemia. There is a 25% probability in every pregnancy of having this life-threatening disorder in a child. This study aims to investigate university students' knowledge, attitudes, awareness and practices towards thalassemia by conducting a pre-KAP study in a thalassemia carrier screening campaign in Bangladesh. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh, from January 2021 to March 2021. The study involved 290 university students participating in a thalassemia carrier screening campaign, who completed a self-administered questionnaire about thalassemia. Results The pre-KAP study showed that 82.69% of students were familiar with…