The Nepal Weekly 
April 29, 2023World Hemophilia Day was observed in Nepal by organising various public awareness programmes on Monday.
This year the Day was observed with the theme of “Access for All: Prevention of Bleeding as the global standard of Care”. Every year April 17 is marked as World Hemophilia Day. According to the 2078 BS national census, the number of people living with haemophilia is 4,937 while 814 have been associated with the Nepal Hemophilia Society.
Society Chairperson Mukundamani Ghimire underscored the need of searching for those living with haemophilia who are yet to come into contact with Society as they need special care and treatment to reduce risks for life due to unexplained and excessive bleeding at any point in life.
The Society defines haemophilia as an inherited rare bleeding disorder, occurring predominantly in males, in which blood does not clot normally because the body does not produce sufficient blood clotting factors. The condition is genetically inherited among people.
“Hemophilia occurs in about 1 of every 5,000 male births,” the World Health Organisation states. As doctors say, Hemophilia is categorized as Hemophilia A and B, and such disorders are caused by factor VIII and factor IX protein deficiency. The situation is classified into three degrees: mild, moderate and severe.
According to Civil Service Hospital Prof Dr Bishesh Poudyal most cases of Hemophilia in Nepal are related to Hemophilia ‘A’. This is generally transmitted to a male child from the mother. But the woman is also at risk of carrying this hereditary health problem. If a woman bleeds severely during menstruation, she may have mild hemophilia and needs a timely medical test and intervention, according to him.
