Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Director of the National Transfusion Safety Program, Conceição Pinto, says that Cape Verde has 31 diagnosed hemophiliac patients and warns that the number is only known because they are patients who have a serious illness. There is a lack of knowledge about the reality of patients who have a mild illness.
Conceição Pinto was speaking to the press today, on the sidelines of the commemorative session that preceded World Hemophilia Day, celebrated annually on April 17th.
“Taking into account the incidence of the disease in the population, we should have between 60 and 70 hemophiliac patients in Cape Verde. At the moment, we have diagnosed 31 who are those who have a serious illness, therefore, they have complaints, they have a clinic, they have a lot of hemorrhages and they use health services, they are known. We are missing the other part, the patients who have a mild disease and only bleed in situations of trauma or when undergoing surgery”, said Conceição Pinto.
According to Conceição Pinto, the country lacks equipment to diagnose the disease, with the islands of Sal, Maio and Brava currently being the only ones where there are no registered hemophiliac patients.
“We do not have the necessary equipment to carry out the diagnosis in the country and we always have to resort to services abroad and this is already a limitation. Then, the geographic distribution of patients. We have patients with hemophilia on six islands, only the islands of Maio, Sal and Brava do not have patients with hemophilia, so this makes it very difficult to recognize the disease and even send samples to make the diagnosis”, he highlighted.
The Director of the National Transfusion Safety Program points out that the country’s geographical situation makes access to medicines and patient monitoring difficult.
“Our geographical situation makes the distribution and, therefore, the management of medicines very difficult. These are very expensive medicines and we are making efforts. Every year we acquire more medicines and new medicines, but then it becomes difficult for us to distribute these medicines to all patients, on all islands and even monitor the treatment”, he explained.
Hemophilia is a genetic-hereditary disease, which is characterized by a disorder in the blood clotting mechanism and manifests itself almost exclusively in males. The mutation that causes hemophilia is located on the X chromosome.
In general, women do not develop the disease, but they may be carriers of the genetic mutation that causes it.
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