Birth certificate rule boosts newborn screening rate to 98%, doctor says

MOSUL — A policy requiring newborn screening before issuing birth certificates has raised testing coverage in Iraq to 98%, according to a health official who urged parents to test infants within the first weeks of life to prevent serious diseases.

Dr. Rajaa Saadoun, director of the newborn screening program, told 964media that infants should undergo the test and receive results within 40 days of birth to avoid severe health complications.

“Screening must be conducted for the newborn and the result known within less than 40 days of birth,” Saadoun said, warning that delaying the test could lead to “major risks including blindness, kidney failure, liver cirrhosis, intellectual disability and even death after four or five months.”

The screening detects hereditary diseases before symptoms appear, including congenital hypothyroidism, milk protein intolerance and lactose intolerance, conditions that may begin appearing after the third day of breastfeeding.

The screening program began in 2017 but initially had low participation.

“The screening began in Iraq in 2017 and it was paper-based, then it became electronic at the beginning of 2025 and expanded to Nineveh, Kirkuk and Basra,” she said. “There was not much response from parents and health staff struggled to convince families.”

Testing rates remained around 45% until mid-2025, she said, when the Health Ministry introduced a rule preventing the issuance of birth statements unless screening had been completed.

“At that point the Ministry of Health stopped granting birth statements without conducting the screening test, which raised the rate to 98%, and 64 cases have appeared since last summer until now,” Saadoun said.

The test involves collecting four drops of blood from a newborn’s heel between the ages of three days and 42 days. The drops are placed on a paper card, dried for three hours and then sent through local health sectors to the governorate health directorate and eventually to a central laboratory in Baghdad.

Speaking from the Al-Quds Health Center in the Police neighborhood on the eastern side of Mosul, Saadoun said the screening can detect congenital hypothyroidism, which can cause intellectual disability if untreated.

It also identifies phenylketonuria, a disorder involving intolerance to milk protein that can lead to the buildup of acids in the body. Symptoms include itching, hair discoloration turning yellow, poisoning and potential kidney and liver failure.

Another disease identified through screening is galactosemia, which can appear as lethargy in infants and may lead to blindness, liver cirrhosis, kidney failure and death.

Saadoun urged parents to conduct the test during the first week of the child’s life.

“The results take about two weeks because they are sent to Baghdad, where the only government device capable of detecting the condition is located,” she said, adding that results must be known before the infant reaches 40 days of age. “After day 43 these diseases can no longer be treated.”

Saadoun said private laboratories charge about 150,000 Iraqi dinars (about $97) for the test, while the Health Ministry provides both screening and treatment free of charge, noting that many private devices do not match the accuracy of the government laboratory equipment.