Haemophilia Disease : Some 1,500 Cameroonians, Victims Of Bleeding Disorder

Today, Cameroon joins the international community to observe the World Haemophilia Day on the theme: “Get Involved.” It is an international awareness day for haemophilia and other bleeding disorders as it provides an opportunity for global attention and leadership to improve and sustain care for people with inherited bleeding disorders such as haemophilia. In Cameroon, medical personnel are bringing to the limelight the over 1,500 Cameroonians who are suffering from haemophilia; the genetically transmitted disease from parents that predominantly affects males. Nevertheless, about 30 per cent of haemophilia cases do occur sporadically, that is not inherited. 
Information from the Haematology and Transfusion Service of the Yaounde Teaching Hospital indicates that haemophilia occurs in about one of every 5,000 male births in the world. According to the World Federation of Haemophilia (2019), there are about 1,596 people living with haemophilia in Cameroon. However, experts at the Yaounde Teaching Hospital say they have not managed to identify all these people. But, the Haemophilia Treatment Centre lodged in the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital, with satellite Management Centres in Douala and the Norwegian Hospital in Ngoundere, have diagnosed and followed up about 170 people, giving a statistics of about 10 per cent. According to experts, there are still many undiagnosed and unidentified cases within the population. 
Professor Claude Tayou Tagny, the Associate Professor of Haematology at the University Teaching Hospital of Yaounde says haemophilia is a disease in which the ability of the blood to clot is severely reduced, causing the patient to bleed severely from even a slight injury. In a normally unaffected person, clotting factors are useful for stopping bleeding when there is a wound. These factor...