There has been such concentrated media attention on a certain number of diseases that even the more silent killer-ailments are being left to continue to cause destruction to people virtually unperturbed.

Statistics revealed at a recent scientific colloquium on haemophilia held in Yaounde are, to say the least, disturbing. Not only in their scope and the devastation it has on victims, but because of the veritable silence over this veritable killer of the first order. Medicine is about providing a cure for pathologies; but it could also be about informing people about the dangers of certain pathologies and the ways of going about them once they are contracted. Haemophilia is one area where the absence of information about its danger has been most manifest.

Of course, the information gap or absence has given room for all sorts of speculations about the origins or care of the disease. For many families, it is a spell thrown on victims through witchcraft. And when it comes to witchcraft, the hospital environment is, as usual, not just the place to go to. Rather, parents of affected patients will readily go to the nearest marabou or fortune-teller for a clue. What can justify this situation when so much documentation abounds on the origins and treatment formulae of this condition?

The disease is described as being as old as human existence and doesn’t seem to have any respect for status since even the children of the all powerful Tsar of Russia and Queen Victoria suffered from the condition. According to Dr Tayou of the University of Yaounde Teaching Hospital, haemophilia remains a problem because of ignorance of the disease, limited screening possibilities and access to treatment.

Moreover, according to him, there is no mastery of the local characteristics of the disease in Cameroon. And when it comes to lack of communication on the disease and the absence of knowledge about local characteristics, then one can fathom the difficulty of the situation. Professor Dora Mbanya goes further to deplore the non-existence of a national programme on haemophilia.

Given the disturbing nature of the ailment, there is absolute need to take this silent killer out of its hiding place. As such, communicating on the disease at the right time seems to be one of the best ways out, and the time is now.