Consanguineous marriages constitute over 50% of all marriages in many
countries of the Middle East and Asia, and in most of these populations at least half of
such unions are between first cousins. In the main, the detrimental health effects
associated with consanguinity are caused by the expression of rare, recessive genes
inherited from a common ancestor(s), and the closer the biological relationship between
the parents, the greater is the probability that their offspring will inherit identical copies
of disease-causing recessive genes. In many traditional Arab societies, in which the
frequency of consanguineous marriages is very high, there is generally a low level of
genetic literacy among the public and most health care providers, and therefore the need
for education is of vital importance in such communities before any programs can be
established that aim to reduce the rates of these marriages. The main factor in
establishing educational and counseling programs aimed at reducing the frequency of
consanguineous marriages is to identify the target group(s) who would benefit most
from such programs. We report here several studies carried out in different countries
with high rates of consanguineous marriages that aimed to assess the levels of
awareness among various groups, both general public and health care professionals,
regarding the health problems associated with such marriages. The information gained
from these surveys was used in each case to establish educational and counseling
programs geared to that specific society.
Keywords: Awareness, consanguineous marriages, counseling, education, high
frequency, low genetic literacy, recessive genes, target groups.