- World Haemophilia Day is celebrated on 17 April to raise awareness about the disease Haemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders.
- It is the 31stanniversary of the day and was started by the World Federation of Haemophilia (WHF).
- An effort for better diagnosis and access to care of those people who remain without treatment, to raise funds for the people who are suffering from this disease and are not able to afford treatment.
- It also provides an opportunity to discuss the disease with friends, family, colleagues, etc. and to support the patients suffering from Haemophilia disease.
- The World Haemophilia Day was started by the World Federation of Haemophilia in 1989 and 17 April, was chosen to celebrate it in honour of the founder of World Federation Haemophilia Frank Schnabel’s birthday.
- The theme of World Haemophilia Day 2021 is “Adapting to Change”. Living during a pandemic can pose many challenges, not only for our health, but also for our mental health and wellbeing. In 2021 World Hemophilia Day is a platform across the globe for exploring our community’s resilience and how we will overcome this new challenge – as we have overcome other challenges in the past.
- Haemophilia was discovered in the 10th century, when people started to take a serious interest, especially in males, who after minor injuries due to bleeding caused death. That time this disease was known as Abulcasis. But, due to limited technology, it was not cured. Especially, that time this disease was common in European royal families and was treated with aspirin which further thinned the blood and condition becomes worse.
- Then, Dr. John Conrad Otto of Philadelphia in 1803 began to study people called “bleeders” and said that it is a hereditary illness which passes on to males by their mothers. In 1937, haemophilia genetic disorder was divided into two types: A and B. But no proper treatment was invented till that time.
- Haemophilia is an inherited blood disorder disease in which blood does not clot properly.It is caused due to defects in the blood vessels, the coagulation mechanism, or the blood platelets and by a deficiency in a gene which resolves on how the human body will make factors VII, IX or XI.The genes are found on the X chromosome, which makes Hemophilia a disease of X-linked recessive.
- A person suffering from this disease bleed spontaneously. After injury or surgery, a person may bleed for longer than a healthy person.The blood coagulation mechanism is a process which transforms the blood from a liquid into a solid and involves several different clotting factors. In this mechanism, fibrin is generated and together combine with the platelet to stop the bleeding.
- Therefore, World Haemophilia Day focuses on educating haemophilic patients and the general public about bleeding disorders. It also emphasises for the proper treatment and cares to the Haemophilic patients.
