**Abstract**

An estimated 300,000 babies are born each year with severe Inherited Disorders of Hemoglobin (IDH). Despite major advances in the understanding of the molecular pathology, control, and management of the IDH thousands of infants and children with these diseases are dying due to the accessibility to appropriate medical care. In addition, as malaria has been the principal cause of early mortality in several parts of the world for much of the last 5000 years, as a result, it is the strongest force for selective pressure on the human genome. That is why, in the world, there is an overlap of malaria endemicity and IDH. Over the past twenty years several studies have shown that IDH such us hemoglobin and/or red cell membrane abnormalities confer resistance to malaria reducing hence the mortality during the first years of life. This has led to the selection of populations with IDH in malariaendemic areas. This may explain the overlap between these two pathologies. This chapter aims to present the relationship between IDH and malaria susceptibility, make an overview of the current state of knowledge and the burden of IDH, and highlight steps that require to be taken urgently to improve the situation.

**Keywords:** Hemoglobin, Inherited Disorders, malaria, host genetics
