In support of the National Strategy for Drugs for Rare Diseases, the Canadian Drug Agency’s (CDA) Newborn Screening Advisory Panel, which includes ImmUnity Canada Executive Director Whitney Goulstone, has developed new guidance to support newborn screening programs in Canada.
While all provinces and territories in Canada perform newborn screening in some capacity, the practices, policies, and screened conditions vary. The goal of these recommendations focussed on consistency in screening practices across Canada, providing a baseline of 25 conditions to be screened as a foundation, and an additional 29 emerging conditions to be monitored for future inclusion. The group also recommends this list of conditions be re-evaluated frequently, with a recommended criteria for adding new conditions to the screening profile.
In creating these guidelines, the panel also discussed feedback responding to a draft of this report, released in summer 2024 and hosted focus groups for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities as well as those who provide community birthing care within underrepresented and underserved populations.
This group hopes to continue to engage with communities across Canada in further developing equitable access to life-saving newborn screening, with the target of earlier identification and effective treatment at the forefront.
You can read the full report and a short summary below