Welcome to the New Zealand Haemochromatosis Support & Awareness Group (IRONZ) website.

What is Haemochromatosis?

Haemochromatosis is a disorder of iron regulation (metabolism) in your body. Because the regulation of iron absorption is "out of kilter", excess iron is stored in the tissue. The abnormal regulation of iron absorption is believed to occur in the gut. Iron accumulates over a long period of time causing "iron overload" in the body. Click on the About Haemochromatosis tab for more details.

How Common Is It?

The abnormal gene is extremely common, in New Zealand 1 in 7 people of European descent are carriers and 1 in 200 people in have Haemochromatosis. Based on these figures and the 2001 Census there are 18,960 people with the disorder and 541,000 people who are carriers in New Zealand. Unfortunately there are very few people who know they have the disorder or know they are carriers of the genes. Click on the About Haemochromatosis tab for more details on gene inheritance.

Website Purpose

The purpose of this website is to inform people of our organisation and its aims, enable people to contact the support and awareness group, advertise our regular meetings, publish the faqs and provide links to other sites for more information on Haemochromatosis.