Celebrate World Hemophilia Day
Horizons in Hemophilia, March 2012
By Trish Dominic, CEO
On Tuesday, April 17th join Hemophilia of Georgia, the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) and other bleeding disorder organizations around the world in celebrating World Hemophilia Day. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Close the Gap” of care around the world. The WFH chose April 17th for World Hemophilia Day because their founder, Frank Schnabel, was born on that day. The WFH estimates that 1 in 1,000 women and men have a bleeding disorder and 75% receive inadequate treatment or no treatment at all.
Over the years, the HoG pharmacy has served the World Federation by distributing donated clotting factor products from pharmaceutical companies to developing countries. This past year, we have shipped over 46 million units of clotting factor to 32 countries. In addition, we have participated in the Hemophilia Organization Twinning program, which pairs established hemophilia organizations with developing ones. Hemophilia of Georgia has twinned with the Chilean Hemophilia Society, the Honduran Hemophilia Society and now the Bolivian Hemophilia Federation. In our role as Twin, we have helped these organizations with educational materials and presentations, fundraising, advocacy, case finding and issues around care and treatment. Most of the time, we have learned as much from our Twin as they have learned from us.
There are many ways you can become a part of World Hemophilia Day.
• Become a fan of WFH on Facebook.
• Wear red on April 17th and ask your friends, classmates and co-workers to wear red, too.
• Ask your friends to learn more about bleeding disorders through the WFH website.
• Organize a fundraising event, become a member, hold a Global Feast.
• Give up lunch for a day and contribute the money you would have spent to WFH.
• Text your friends and ask them to visit the WFH website and learn more about bleeding disorders.
Whatever you do, you will help others learn about bleeding disorders and the needs of people with bleeding disorders in the rest of the world. You'll make a difference in the life of someone living with a bleeding disorder with less access to treatment and care. Whatever you do – thank you.