NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 29 \u2013 Countries from East Africa convened at the East Africa Blood Disorders Leadership Forum to address the future of bleeding and blood disorders (BBDs) affecting citizens, such as sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, and von Willebrand disease. <\/p>\n
The forum gathered regional leaders, patient organizations, government officials, and patients to strengthen advocacy and advance treatment and care for those impacted by these disorders.<\/p>\n
Dr. Gladwell Gathecha, Head of the Division of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) in Kenya\u2019s Ministry of Health, outlined strategies from Kenya\u2019s NCD strategic plan (2021-2025) to standardize quality care for hemophilia and sickle cell patients. \u201cWe\u2019ve developed guidelines for healthcare workers from Kisumu to Mombasa to ensure consistent, high-quality services for these patients,\u201d Dr. Gathecha noted. Another key strategy is the establishment of the Hematological Disease Technical Working Group, which coordinates with the Ministry of Health on blood disorder management.<\/p>\n
Dr. Gathecha also highlighted initiatives through the Social Health Insurance Act (SHA) to cover diagnostic testing for sickle cell disease. The Emergency Chronic and Critical Illness Fund, she explained, provides additional support for people living with chronic blood disorders. \u201cThese are lifelong diseases, sometimes hereditary, and can severely impact quality of life,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Dr. Kibet Shikuku, Chair of the Kenya Hemophilia Association, emphasized the importance of government involvement in patient care. \u201cPatients don\u2019t belong to doctors\u2014they belong to the government. Greater government involvement will fast-track solutions,\u201d he said, advocating for resource mobilization to enhance treatment access across East Africa. Dr. Shikuku cited a 75% treatment gap for blood disorder patients in the region, stressing the need for shared resources, research, and expertise to improve care.<\/p>\n
Participants urged governments to allocate funds for locating and treating affected citizens, ensuring that BBD patients across the region receive the support they need.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 29 \u2013 Countries from East Africa convened at the East Africa Blood Disorders Leadership Forum to address the future of bleeding and blood disorders (BBDs) affecting citizens, such as sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, and von Willebrand disease. The forum gathered regional leaders, patient organizations, government officials, and patients to strengthen advocacy and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}