The founder and chief executive, Haemophilia Foundation of Nigeria (HFON), Mrs Megan Buckie Adediran, has revealed that about 70 million Nigerians live with a blood disorder called haemophilia.
“The prevalence has been proven to be the same worldwide. It is one in every 10, 000 persons, and if we are a hundred and seventy million Nigerians as claimed now, that is about 17 million persons suffering from haemophilia. Unfortunately, 99 per cent of them are not diagnosed and are suffering it at various degrees in silence, especially in the villages,” she explained.
Haemophilia is an inherited bleeding disorder in which case the sufferer does not have the ability to form a clot after an injury and tend to bleed longer than normal which, at its peak results in sudden death.
Adeniran noted that persons with haemophilia lack one of the 13 factors required for blood to clot. She further revealed that the inspiration to launch the foundation over a decade ago in Nigeria was due to the fact that she herself has two sons living with haemophilia and the trauma she went through in settling their cases medically.
According to her, haemophilia which is more prevalent in male children has no known cure anywhere in the world yet just like other killer diseases such as AIDS, Ebola but can only be managed to enable victims live normal and longer life.
She emphasized that her foundation was floated primarily to help manage the cases of people living with the condition across the country free-of-charge to enable them live a normal and fufilling life.
