On April 17, 2014, the global bleeding disorders community joined together to celebrate World Hemophilia Day. It was a day to encourage one another to speak out and create change, and to educate the world about the various bleeding disorders that affect millions of people worldwide.
As part of the World Federation of Hemophilia’s (WFH’s) “Speak out. Create change” campaign, we devised a series of five online infographics that were posted on the WFH Facebook page and are still available. The infographics provide important information on key issues for our community to comment on, like and share with their online network. Some of the issues that were addressed were leadership qualities, bleeding disorder symptoms in women and the importance of fitness for people with bleeding disorders.
The WFH also hosted an online photography competition called UR1in1000, which asked people to share photos demonstrating what makes them unique. Photos submitted from across the world can still be seen on our Facebook page. We were pleased to award first prize to Bojan Chunde (Prilep, Macedonia) for his photo triptych showing his progression from using a wheelchair to being able to walk again.
This year’s World Hemophilia Day was also exceptional, commemorated by a series of important landmarks being lit red to help raise awareness among the general public on the issues facing the bleeding disorders community. The world-famous Niagara Falls waters were cast red on both the US and Canadian sides. This was an important visual representation of the strong relationships that World Hemophilia Day has helped to build globally, all to further the goal of Treatment for All.
In addition, the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario; Langevin Bridge in Calgary, Alberta; the AAMI Park at the Olympic Parks in Melbourne Australia; and the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston were all lit up on April 17.
It is our hope that this unprecedented support spreads to all corners of the globe, and that in 2015 even more global landmarks shine red on World Hemophilia Day.