GENETIC COUNSELLING FOR PLANNING FUTURE HEALTHY FAMILIES

Abstract

Introduction: Genetic counselling is a well-known method for planning healthy new generations. After obtaining results, when parents are faced with having a child with genetic disorder it is then when they begin to think about the possible live threatening risks their offspring might have. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to raise awareness of the importance of genetic counselling for planning future healthy families. Material and methods: The latest databases on internet were used from articles published on PubMed, Scopus, in journals with international scientific board, on Publons Index Copernicus, and many other bases that are relevant to the academic community. A total of 137 articles were reviewed as well as textbooks from the country and abroad. For the writing of this article the most accurate information have been considered. Results and Discussion: The genetic counselling can obtain three components that are crucial for the future generations. Firstly, prenatal diagnosis even before conception can give very important information especially when there are risk factors in one family. Secondly and by far even more important, is the genetic counselling during pregnancy with the help of many tests. And thirdly after the child is born postnatal screening is recommended from specialist worldwide and from Pediatric Hospitals so that an early genetic condition can be detected in newborns, enabling early medical intervention if needed. Conclusion: As there exist media for many other information, for genetic counselling for planning healthy families a loud awareness must be taken in consideration, because as statistic shows there are still parents who are not informed for availability of the types of genetic counselling