Raising Awareness, Inspiring Hope: World Hemophilia Day 2025

Posted On: 2025-04-18 17:53:41

Every year on April 17th, we take a moment to honour a group that frequently goes unnoticed yet bravely faces every day. Raising awareness of a rare ailment is only one aspect of World Haemophilia Day; other goals include elevating the voices of people with bleeding disorders, promoting healthcare equity, and igniting hope among people from different countries.

A uncommon, hereditary bleeding illness called haemophilia occurs when particular clotting factors (usually Factor VIII or IX) are either absent or present in low amounts, preventing blood from clotting normally. This implies that even slight wounds can result in protracted bleeding, and internal bleeding that occurs on its own, especially in joints, can cause excruciating pain, disability, or even death.

But hemophilia isn’t just a medical term in a textbook. It’s:

• A young boy sitting out of school sports to avoid injury.
• A mother staying up every night to monitor her child’s joints after a simple bump.
• An adult facing joint deterioration from years of untreated bleeds.
• A family in a low-resource country struggling to find basic clotting medication.

The condition affects about 1 in 10,000 people worldwide, but its impact reaches far beyond numbers. In many regions, especially in developing countries, access to treatment remains extremely limited — turning what is a manageable condition in one country into a life-threatening illness in another.

A key objective in the field of bleeding disorders, "Equity in Access: Treatment for All" is the focus of World Haemophilia Day 2025. Because you should never be judged by where you live. While some nations currently provide cutting-edge treatments like gene therapy or prophylactic factor replacement, others continue to use antiquated techniques or, worse, do not provide any treatment at all. Worldwide, almost 75% of patients with bleeding disorders continue to receive subpar treatment. This is more than just a health problem. It has to do with social fairness.

In 1989, the World Federation of Haemophilia (WFH) created World Haemophilia Day, which is celebrated on April 17 in remembrance of WFH founder Frank Schnabel.

The day is dedicated to:

• Public education regarding haemophilia and associated conditions
• Drawing attention to inequalities in access and treatment worldwide
• Promoting the donation of plasma and blood
• encouraging the development of novel treatments and cures
• Giving the patient community more visibility and connections to empower them

This year, there is a clear call to action: let's create a society in which everyone, regardless of where they reside, has access to care.

However, advancement is only significant if it is accessible to everybody.

• We have to strive for a time when:
• Every youngster receives an early diagnosis.
• Each patient receives economical, high-quality care.
• Regardless matter where they live or their income, nobody is left behind.

Filaantro along with Child Help Foundation with everyone pledges to do more than raise awareness on April 17th. Because we inspire change when we increase awareness. And we transform lives when we arouse hope.

AUTHOR: ATHIRA PRADEEP NAIR