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January 16th, 2004

Octapharma´s ongoing commitment to support healthcare in the developing world


As part of a global strategy to support medical education initiatives around the world, Octapharma Nordic has recently supported and attended meetings in Azerbaijan, Iran and Croatia.

The first of these was the Forum of the Caucasus Haemophilia Alliance which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan during November 2003. Organised as a workshop by Mrs Gulnara Huseinova of the local haemophilia patient association in association with WFH, the aim was to increase knowledge about haemophilia and to develop possibilities for improved diagnosis and treatment.

Mrs Gulnara Huseinova of the Azerbajdzan Haemophilia patients association chats to one of the delegates.
As a former republic of the Soviet Union, Azerbajdzan is a country with well educated physicians, but only basic health care infrastructure and limited funds. As such, people with haemophilia have received no treatment and factor concentrates have not been available.

As sponsors of the meeting, Octapharma Nordic was invited to give a special lecture during the workshop in which they outlined a model programme for haemophilia care in developing nations.

Also during November 2003, Octapharma hosted a mini-symposium in Zagreb, Croatia on “IVIG in the treatment of neurological diseases.” The meeting was organised by Octapharma´s local distribution agent in collaboration with Marie Steiding, International Business Manager for immunology and Peter Troija, Area Manager Central & Eastern Europe.

More than 50 doctors from Croatia and 2 from Bosnia gathered to learn more about the benefits of IVIG in a variety of neurological conditions including: myasthenia gravis, Guillain Barré Syndrome, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy, Multiple Sclerosis and intractable epilepsy. Both international and local experts spoke about their experiences of IVIG in neurological diseases. All participants agreed that the symposia had been a highly valuable educational tool and would provide a springboard for improved patient care.

Finally, in Shiraz, Iran The1st International Symposium of Haematology was held during December 2003. The meeting, which focused on thrombosis and haemostasis, attracted strong interest from Iranian physicians. Several important guests from Europe contributed to the programme, including Dr Lars Heslet from Denmark, who gave a lecture on diagnosis and treatment of DIC.

Dr Lars Haslet meets Dr Karimi and other organisers of the 1st International Symposium of Haematology in Iran.
Octapharma as one of the major sponsors of the meeting would like to congratulate Dr Karimi and his scientific organising committee on the outstanding success of this event.

For more information on any of the above events or other activities of Octapharma Nordic please click here.


© Octapharma AG, 2004