DENVER | The Global Down Syndrome Foundation announced today that it has translated important prenatal testing information into Icelandic and provided the resource to the Icelandic Down Syndrome Association. The translation is a first step to support the association’s efforts in providing accurate information about Down syndrome to pregnant women and families in Iceland.

Global and the National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC) offered to provide the translation of their recently published Prenatal Testing & Information About Down Syndrome following a CBS news report in August about the termination rates of Down syndrome pregnancies in Iceland.

According to the report, “Since prenatal screening tests were introduced in Iceland in the early 2000s, the vast majority of women — close to 100 percent — who received a positive test for Down syndrome terminated their pregnancy.” In actuality, from 2007 to 2015, nearly 85% of pregnant women opted for Down syndrome screening and, of those who received an amniocentesis resulting in a positive test result for Down syndrome, 100% terminated.

The best available statistics in the U.S. are that an estimated 67 percent of women who receive an amniocentesis resulting in a positive test result for Down syndrome choose to terminate their pregnancies. But more than 95 percent of pregnant women don’t even elect to receive an amniocentesis.

“The high termination rates in Iceland are alarming,” said Michelle Sie Whitten, President and CEO of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation. “Every woman and every pregnancy is unique, but every woman should be given the facts including examples of how people with Down syndrome can and are contributing to society and reaching their potential. In the U.S. the situation is very different than Iceland – there is actually a population explosion of people with Down syndrome because of increased births and a more than doubling of the lifespan. Our problem is that funding for research and medical care has declined precipitously over the last two decades and we need to change that.”

“Global has been such a great partner to work with on our prenatal testing pamphlet and we are so pleased to offer it in Icelandic,” said David Tolleson, Executive Director of the NDSC. “The NDSC is offering scholarships to families from Iceland to attend our national convention in July of this year, and we believe it will serve as a great resource for people from Iceland to bring some best practices back to their country. We also look forward to learning from our colleagues in Iceland.”

“We appreciate Global and NDSC for extending support to the Down syndrome community in Iceland. Their generosity and moral support is very important for a small society as ours. And how wonderful to be part of this larger Down syndrome family, all sharing the same beliefs and hopes for people with Down syndrome,” said the Icelandic Down Syndrome Association President, Thordis Ingadóttir.

Watch C-Span cover the 5-minute testimony of Global Down Syndrome Foundation’s Quincy Jones Award Advocate, Frank Stephens, about Iceland and the future of people with Down syndrome.

Below are several trends associated with Down syndrome based on data in the United States:

Population – ranges between 230,000-430,000
Live Births – have increased to 1 in 691 today from 1 in 1,000 in 2002
Lifespan –There have been great strides in medical care and lifespan has more than doubled to 60 years from 28 years in the 1980s
Low Government Funding – Despite being the leading cause of developmental delay in the U.S. and the world, Down syndrome is one of the least funded genetic conditions by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has been since 2001.
Education – By law, people with Down syndrome must be provided a free, appropriate education through their public school system.
Societal Trends – A small but growing number of people with Down syndrome are choosing to live independently, participate in post-secondary education or college programs, and get married.

For the most current, accurate information and resources associated with people with Down syndrome visit www.globaldownsyndrome.org/facts.

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About the Global Down Syndrome Foundation

The Global Down Syndrome Foundation is at the forefront of research, medical care, education and advocacy dedicated to significantly improving the lives of people with Down syndrome. Supporting the research of hundreds of scientists around the world, and through our advocates, partners and affiliates including the Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome and the Anna and John J. Sie Center for Down Syndrome, Global is making an impact on the lives of people with Down syndrome today, and remains focused on finding solutions tomorrow. We are committed to helping people with Down syndrome realize their fullest potential and to lead healthy and productive lives. To learn more, visit www.globaldownsyndrome.org.

Posted in Blog, Media Advisory / Press 2017 and 2018, Press Releases
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Denver Post Urges Congress to Reverse Historic Lack of Down Syndrome Research Funding

January 5th, 2018 by Global Down Syndrome Foundation

Should Congress provide more funding for Down syndrome research?

Re: “Congress should give it up for Down syndrome research,” Dec. 29 editorial.

There remains a significant and persistent disparity in federal funding for Down syndrome research. Fortunately, at the recent hearing on Down syndrome referenced in the editorial, there was overwhelming bipartisan support for increased federal funding.

As Congress finalizes the final fiscal year 2018 spending bill, we are hopeful, thanks to the strong support of Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Reps. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., that the bill will include a recommendation to provide a significant increase in federal funding for Down syndrome research and launch a new trans-NIH initiative that studies immune system dysregulation and Down syndrome.

We are deeply grateful for their support, as well as the bipartisan support from the Colorado congressional delegation.

Michelle Sie Whitten, Denver

The writer is president and CEO of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation.

Congress should give it up for Down syndrome research

By THE DENVER POST EDITORIAL BOARD |

PUBLISHED: December 29, 2017 at 12:01 pm | UPDATED: January 2, 2018 at 9:28 am

On levels both moral and practical, Congress has for years been failing those born with Down syndrome and their families. We hope the new year brings about a stark reversal in the second-class treatment this unique population is receiving.

Lawmakers should greatly increase Down syndrome funding for research and assistance. According to analysis by the Denver-based Global Down Syndrome Foundation, the syndrome is one of the least funded genetic conditions supported by the National Institutes of Health, yet it is the leading cause of developmental disability. In 2001, NIH spent $29 million for Down syndrome research, a figure that plummeted to as low as $14 million even as NIH’s budget grew. Had funding tracked with that of NIH, spending on the syndrome from 2001 to 2017 would have more than doubled the $356 million allocated.

Yet Down syndrome funding is likely to see a 22 percent decrease in 2018, from $27 million to $21 million, when the reality on the ground suggests it should be much greater.

During this long period of neglect, thinking about Down syndrome has begun to change. Advances in education and care have improved life expectancy from 28 years in the 1980s to 60 years today. Quality of life and cultural acceptance have improved.

As Michelle Sie Whitten, the president and CEO of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, put it to us, there has been a mini population explosion. Fewer women are choosing to end pregnancies. In 2002, Down syndrome babies numbered 1 per 1,000 births. Today it’s 1 per 691.

Whitten says there are likely more than 430,000 thousand people with Down syndrome living in the United States presently, and now that many will outlive their parents, research and aid will only become increasingly important.

Meanwhile, groundbreaking work (much of being done here in Colorado by the Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, the Sie Center for Down Syndrome and the Rocky Mountain Alzheimer’s Disease Center) suggests research into this unique population with its extra chromosome can lead to discoveries beneficial to the broader population. The nature of the syndrome offers many opportunities, as those born with it are far more susceptible to leukemia or suffer from an autoimmune disorder, and all of them will develop the brain pathology of Alzheimer’s in their 40s. And yet they are all but impervious to solid tumor cancers and heart attack. What might greater research into the particular disease spectrum and genetic differences discover to assist others with those afflictions?

In October, the actor and Special Olympian Frank Stephens gave landmark testimony before a Congressional committee. In urging greater funding for Down syndrome research, he pointedly addressed the bias behind the anemic current levels, saying, “Sadly, across the world, a notion is being sold that maybe we don’t need research concerning Down syndrome. Some people say prenatal screens will identify Down syndrome in the womb and those pregnancies will just be terminated.”

Certainly, we support a woman’s right to chose in this and other situations. But given the promising work already being done in Down syndrome research, the need for better information for pregnant women to help them make their choice, and the needs of the many families who do have Down syndrome members, the current federal approach would be as wrongheaded as it would be inhumane.

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