Newborn screening in Nigeria: Will incorporating congenital hypothyroidism with sickle cell disease improve neonatal screening programme?

Abstract

• The authors review the present status of newborn screening in Africa and discuss the concept that adding a neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism (CH) to an existing sickle cell disease screening would make it easier to implement than developing an independent screening program.• Structure, funding, political will and an efficient recall system are identified as being key requirements for the development of a successful neonatal screening for CH.