Kwilu: the provincial government encouraged to fund research into haemophilia cases

Kikwit, April 17^th, 2025  (CPA) – The provincial government of Kwilu, in the south-west of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has been encouraged to fund medical research to determine cases of haemophilia in boys from birth, CPA has learnt on Wednesday from a health source. ‘We are pleading to the Congolese government to encourage and fund medical research, with a view to detecting cases of haemophilia as soon as boys are born, as most health facilities have no appropriate laboratories,’ has said Dr Junior Katembo, a doctor at the ‘Maman Katembo’ polyclinic in Kikwit. Speaking on the occasion of World Haemophilia Day, which is celebrated on April 17^th of each year, the doctor said that homophilia is a hereditary haemorrhagic disease that affects males from the X chromosome and is caused by a deficiency of coagulation factors 8 and 9. – Before any surgery, surgeons should have blood coagulation tests carried out in the laboratory to measure factors 8 and 9’, he has stressed. Dr Katembo pointed out that haemophilia is treated favourably by administering plasmas and coagulants. He took the opportunity to list the forms of haemophilia: severe, moderate and minor. In the severe case, he explained, there is spontaneous bleeding, which becomes serious in the event of trauma, while in the moderate case the blood does not dry up after surgery, whereas in the minor case the blood is neither spontaneous nor caused by trauma. Haemophilia is a serious hereditary bleeding disorder in which the blood is unable to clot properly, leading in severe cases to uncontrolled bleeding, which is either spontaneous or caused by minor trauma. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is organising World Haemophilia Day to raise awareness of the disease and other bleeding disorders, and to improve care. The theme of this year’s World Haemophilia Day is ‘Access for All: Women and girls bleed too’. Blood coagulation disorders affect 1 in 1,000 people, most of whom are undetected.