BLOOD matters - Société Canadienne de l'Hémophilie

Hemophilia Ontario
World Congress in Buenos Aires
by Cameron Peters
Photo credit: Mike Beck
Cameron Peters, Candy Terpstra and Mike
Beck at the World Congress in Buenos Aires,
Argentina
12\ Blood Matters Fall 2010
I attended the 2010 Hemophilia World Congress in Buenos Aires in
July, 2010 as a youth recipient of the Karttik Shah fellowship. Through my
experiences at Congress, I learned a number of things that I will be able to
use in my work with Hemophilia Ontario. First, I engaged with the broader
hemophilia community in Canada. Having not attended a national or international
event before, the congress allowed me to meet with leaders in
our community from across the country and to share experiences and ideas
on how to meet the needs of our membership. This, in turn, has led me to
new ways of viewing issues in my work in Ontario. I understand better how
research is done in Canada and how the Canadian Hemophilia Society and
its provincial chapters interact with health professionals across the country.
These important aspects of our organization could only have been learned
through attending the Congress.
Second, the Congress was an excellent opportunity to learn about the
latest advancements in areas that relate to my particular health challenges.
Experts on Hepatitis C provided an update on the future of treatments. In
particular, protease inhibitors, projected to be available in the next few years,
are expected to significantly improve treatment outcomes, especially for
those affected by Genotype I Hepatitis C. Physiotherapists presented studies
on total joint replacement of ankles, which is still considered to be a rather
novel therapy as ankle fusion remains the preference for many treatment
centres in the developed world.
Third, I was able to meet other youth delegates and share experiences
with them about our health difficulties. There were dozens of youth delegates
from all over the world at the conference, and meeting them provided a different
perspective on how their NMOs work to help individuals affected by
bleeding disorders. For example, I spoke with a youth delegate from Latvia,
who is currently involved with her NMO in helping hemophiliacs with court
cases where they are taking the government to court over its decision to
restrict funding for treatment. Also, I spoke with many youth from Tunisia,