Fortunately, the WFH Humanitarian Aid department was able to collaborate with two national member organizations (NMOs) and a logistics company to provide factor to the country before the situation got truly critical.
In April, the Nepal Hemophilia Society had completely run out of factor, and had no access to new supplies because the region was under lockdown. The only logistics support for the entire area was a few emergency flights from China. In order to get factor into the country, the WFH mobilized with local resources to consider different options.
The chosen approach involved the WFH reaching out to Vikash Goyal, President of the Hemophilia Federation of India (HFI) and Logenix International, a U.S.A-based freight forwarder to ship an emergency supply of factor by land. The HFI generously offered what factor they could spare, and Logenix International’s office in India secured a refrigerated truck and processed the necessary paperwork to move the product across the border.
While this was taking place, the WFH worked with Logenix International to ship a larger donation from the U.S.A directly to Kathmandu via airfreight. The company initially began coordinating the transit shipment to Nepal via India, but fortunately, they were able to secure space on the first and only direct flight Kathmandu. On July 1, the shipment arrived—the first full shipment of factor to make its way to Nepal since January when the COVID-19 pandemic first became serious in the region.
If not for the support of the Hemophilia Federation of India (HFI), Nepal would have been without factor for six months. And without the support of Logenix International, Nepal might still be without factor today. The WFH Humanitarian Aid program extends its thanks to both dedicated organizations.
About the WFH Humanitarian Aid Program
The WFH Humanitarian Aid Program improves the lack of access to care and treatment by providing much-needed support for people with inherited bleeding disorders in developing countries. By providing patients with a more predictable and sustainable flow of humanitarian aid donations, the WFH Humanitarian Aid Program makes it possible for patients to receive consistent and reliable access to treatment and care. None of this would be possible without the generous support of Sanofi Genzyme and Sobi, our Founding Visionary Contributors; Bayer and Roche, our Visionary Contributors; Grifols, our Leadership Contributor; and our Contributors, CSL Behring and Takeda. To learn more about the WFH Humanitarian Aid Program, visit www.treatmentforall.org.
