On April 17 of this year, our community will come together to celebrate World Hemophilia Day. The theme of this year’s big day is “Reaching Out: The First Step to Care”. For the WFH, a big part of the first step to care is the outreach and identification of undiagnosed people with bleeding disorders. This focus area is of critical importance to our community, because so many people have a bleeding disorder but are not getting the kind of care they need to enjoy a normal quality of life.
Patient outreach and identification is about finding individuals with hemophilia or other bleeding disorders—including von Willebrand disease—who have not yet been diagnosed, or whose health needs are not being met by healthcare services. These patients can be found through awareness-raising campaigns and educational activities.