Octapharma News August 20th, 2004

August 20th, 2004

Several Giant Steps for Haemophilia in Mexico

From astronauts to artisans... science and symposia... the XIVth national Haemophilia Workshop held August 5th-7th in Oaxaca, Mexico had something for everyone.

Organised by Martha Monteros, President of the Mexican Haemophilia Federation, the meeting focused on the theme: Rehabilitation - body and soul.

In addition to being one of the principal sponsors of the meeting, Octapharma hosted two memorable events.
For the clinicians and other honored guests, Octapharma organised a lunch symposium entitled: Treatment of Haemophilia in Mexico: The situation today and tomorrow.

The session was opened by Angel Sosa, General Manager of Octapharma Mexico, who reminded the attendees of some of the giant steps that have been taken in haemophilia care in Mexico in recent years. These include increased diagnosis and registry of people with haemophilia, improved access to treatment, the switch from cryoprecipitate to virus inactivated concentrates and introduction of home therapy. Such developments have immeasurably improved the quality of life for haemophiliacs and their families. However, certain areas of concern remain, including improving equality and access to treatment and prevention, diagnosis and treatment of FVIII inhibitors.

Carlos Gaitán, Vice President of the Mexican Haemophilia Federation provided an insightful overview of the consequences of inhibitor development from the patients perspective.

This was followed by two thought provoking presentations, the first from Dr Maria Antonieta Vélez on the Diagnosis and Clinical Management of Inhibitors and the second by Octapharma's Medical Marketing Director, Judi Miller on The role of VWF in the prevention & treatment and economics of FVIII inhibitor antibodies.
PDF copies of these presentations may be obtained by clicking the above links (Please note that Dr Vélez' presentation is in Spanish.

PDF files require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.


Mexican Astronaut Dr C Rodolfo Neri Vela

The second Octapharma sponsored event was literally out of this world!
In a special session open to physicians, patients and families, Mexico's only astronaut , payload specialist, Dr Rodolfo Neri, give an inspirational presentation entitled: Around the world in 90 minutes: if you can dream it, you can do it.

Using film, slides and photos to dramatically illustrate his trip on the 23rd Space Shuttle Mission (2nd Flight of Atlantis), Dr Neri outlined the daily challenges he faced during his 6 days, 21 hours, 4 minutes and 49 seconds in space.

Dr Neri, then went on to draw parallels between these challenges and those of living with a chronic disease, but urged people to believe in themselves, to set the highest goals and to pursue them with passion.
Following his lecture, Dr Neri spent a further 90 minutes meeting his new fans, signing autographs and posing for photos that will be treasured for years to come.


	Octapharma Mexico: major sponsors of the recent hemophilia workshop in Oaxaca

Taken together, these two events, further underscore Octapharma's long-term committment to supporting haemophila care in Mexico.

For more information about our activities in Mexico please contact: Alejandro Gutierrez
(Please note that clicking on this link will take you outside of the Octapharma web site)