The changing face of haemophilia care in Pakistan

In Pakistan, haemophilia A is one of the most common inherited bleeding disorders with a poor life expectancy. The World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) reported that 195 263 patients from 115 countries were diagnosed with haemophilia in 2019, of which 2233 patients were identified from Pakistan. However, the true incidence of the disease remains unknown and could be higher due to the high level of consanguinity, scarcity of funds for diagnostic facilities, and poor awareness of the disease. Treatment has remained suboptimal, with cryoprecipitate or fresh frozen plasma being the mainstay. Furthermore, patients are often at a high risk of being exposed to transfusion-transmitted infections, such as hepatitis C and HIV, because of poorly screened blood products.