World Haemophilia Day

In News

  • World Haemophilia Day is marked on 17 April annually, and is dedicated to raising awareness about haemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders. 

About World Haemophilia Day

  •  The World Federation of Haemophilia (WFH) was established in 1963 to enhance treatment and care for all haemophilia patients.
  • The WFH began observing World Haemophilia Day in 1989. 
  • It chose 17 April as the date to bring the community together and honour WFH founder Frank Schnabel’s birthday.
  • 2022 theme :“Access for All: Partnership. Policy. Progress. Engaging your government, integrating inherited bleeding disorders into national policy”.
  • Significance:
    • The day brings together people suffering from ailments like haemophilia and enables them to share their stories of living with the disease.
    • Several institutions and individuals organise awareness campaigns, conferences, workshops, and other events on this day.

Haemophilia 

  • It is an inherited condition that causes bleeding for a long time after injury or surgery and painful swelling of the joints either after injury or even without injury.
  • Types of haemophilia:
    • Haemophilia A – It is a more common type of haemophilia. It is due to deficiency of clotting factor VIII (factor eight).   
    • Haemophilia B- It is less common, only about 20% of people with haemophilia have haemophilia B. 
      • There is a deficiency of clotting factor IX (factor nine) in haemophilia B.
  • Causes:
    • It is caused by a mutation or change, in one of the genes, that provides instructions for making the clotting factor proteins needed to form a blood clot. 
    • This change or mutation can prevent the clotting protein from working properly or to be missing altogether. These genes are located on the X chromosome. 
  • Treatment:
    • The best way to treat haemophilia is to replace the missing blood clotting factor so that the blood can clot properly. 
    • This is done by infusing (administering through a vein) commercially prepared factor concentrates.

Source:News18