A course on managing haemophilia, created at Lund University in Sweden, has taken off and being attended by health care practitioners from around the world.
The three-day course ‘Haemophilia – from diagnosis to therapy’ is a collaboration between the Malmo Centre for Thrombosis and Haemostasis at Skane University Hospital and Lund University.
Its organisers say that the level of haemophilia care varies greatly worldwide, but "Sweden has a long tradition in the field of haemophilia care." Their course covers all aspects of haemophilia including new diagnostic methods in molecular biology and treatments in the form of prophylactic and inhibitor treatment.
Following the course, they say, students will be better prepared to make the best and most cost-effective use of these new treatment principles. The target group is physicians treating haemophilia from all over the world.
Course developer Dr Erik Berntorp explains that 75% of all people with haemophilia around the world are left untreated, causing a great deal of suffering and severe disability.
"Haemophilia is a very narrow field as the number of patients is relatively small. Starting a course generates interest in the subject, which might make it easier to recruit young doctors to this area of specialisation," Dr Berntorp says.
"We are driven by a desire to decrease unnecessary suffering around the world. We have the opportunity to disseminate the principles that have proven greatly successful in preventing haemophilia."
A total of 260 physicians from 38 countries have taken the course so far, in the ten years since it was launched. The course has also been replicated in some Asian countries, and Lund University lecturers visit these sites to teach.
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