Genetic testing that begins on a card.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder in which red blood cells become rigid and sickle-shaped, slowing or blocking blood flow and causing pain, anaemia, infections and organ damage. In India it is most common among tribal communities. The Government of India launched the Elimination Mission in July 2023, aiming to eliminate sickle cell disease as a public health problem by 2047.

Thalassaemia is an inherited blood disorder in which the body makes too little haemoglobin. People with the severe form, thalassaemia major, need regular blood transfusions throughout life. Carriers are usually healthy and often unaware of their status; when both parents are carriers, each pregnancy has a 1 in 4 chance of thalassaemia major.

SMA is a rare inherited neuromuscular disorder that damages the nerve cells controlling muscles, causing progressive weakness that affects movement and, in severe forms, breathing and swallowing. Treatments now exist and work best when started early, ideally before symptoms appear, which is why newborn screening matters.

DMD is an inherited muscle disorder that mainly affects boys. The body cannot make dystrophin, a protein muscles need, so muscles weaken progressively from early childhood. Diagnosis often comes late; an earlier genetic diagnosis lets families find out whether relatives such as mothers and sisters are carriers.

In inherited bleeding disorders such as haemophilia, blood does not clot properly because a clotting factor is missing or low. Haemophilia A and B mainly affect males; women can be carriers.