World Haemophilia Day

• 17 Apr 2019

Haemophilia day is celebrated on April 17 every year, the day aims to increase awareness about haemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders.

• The day is celebrated in the honor of Frank Schnabel, founder of the World Federation of Haemophilia (WHF).
• This year, the theme of World Haemophilia Day is Outreach & Identification—“The first step to care”.
• Since 1989, World Haemophilia Day is the day on which the whole bleeding disorders community comes together to celebrate the continuous advances in treatment while raising awareness and bringing understanding and attention to the issues related to proper care to the wider public.

Haemophilia

• It is a medical condition, mostly inherited, in which the ability of blood to clot is severely reduced so that even a minor injury can cause severe bleeding.
• People with Haemophilia do not have enough clotting factor - a protein in blood that controls bleeding.
• It is quite rare. About 1 in 10,000 people are born with it.
• Major Types of HaemophiliaThe most common type of Haemophilia is called Haemophilia A. This means the person does not have enough clotting factor VIII (factor eight). 
  • Haemophilia B is less common. A person with Haemophilia B does not have enough factor IX (factor nine).
• Men are more vulnerable to haemophilia than women.
• Symptoms
  • Big bruises.
  • Bleeding into muscles and joints.
  • Spontaneous bleeding (sudden bleeding inside the body for no clear reason).
  • Prolonged bleeding after getting a cut, removing a tooth, or having surgery.
• Haemophilia is diagnosed by taking a blood sample and measuring the level of factor activity in the blood.
• Treatment
  • The main treatment for Haemophilia is Replacement Therapy.
  • Concentrates of clotting factor VIII (for Haemophilia A) or clotting factor IX (for Haemophilia B) are slowly dripped or injected into a vein. These infusions help replace the clotting factor that is missing or low.
• Stats
  • According to the World Federation of Haemophilia’s Annual Global Survey 2017, there were over 1.96 lakh persons living with Haemophilia across the world in 2017.
  • In the country-wise data, India emerges with the highest count at nearly 19,000. Experts believe that 80% of cases go unregistered in India due to the absence of proper diagnostic facilities in the remote areas, so the actual count is close to 2 lakh.

World Federation of Haemophilia(WFH)

• It is an international not-for-profit organization that was established in 1963.
• It is a global network of patient organizations in 140 countries and has official recognition from the World Health Organization.
• Its mission is to improve and sustain care for people with inherited bleeding disorders around the world.