From 5 to 8 February, the EAHAD 2019 Congress took place in Prague, Czech Republic. Prague, the city in the heart of Europe, welcomed more than 2600 delegates from over 80 countries for an unforgettable scientific experience. The 12th Annual Congress took place at the Prague Congress Centre, with a beautiful view over the historic city, and was the place to be for discussions on the latest treatment developments and ongoing clinical challenges in managing haemophilia and other related bleeding disorders.
The meeting started with the Multidisciplinary Pre-Congress Day on 5 February, which emphasised on the importance of comprehensive care for people with bleeding disorders. Nurses, physiotherapists, and psychosocial professionals shared their knowledge and expertise to further promote the multidisciplinary approach in haemophilia care. On the same day, young investigators had the chance to discuss their research projects and learn from distinguished professionals during an interactive half-day early career professionals’ workshop.
From 6-8 February, the main scientific programme took place. Starting with the Multi-Disciplinary Educational Session, this year focusing on the ageing haemophilia population and the related challenges, the programme contained presentations by expert speakers from across Europe and beyond. Topics addressed included the near and more distant future of haemophilia treatment, including gene therapy for haemophilia A and B, as well as the rarer disorders, and innovative non-factor replacement medications.
At the same time, patients’ perspectives and pharmaco-economic issues were discussed, and the delegates had the opportunity to ponder new and pending treatment challenges. The programme contained diverse sessions offering different perspectives on the topic at hand, like the monitoring of haemophilia treatment and the advantages and challenges of registries and real-world data. Also, delegates had the chance to experience shorter case reports and the fast-paced oral abstract SLAM session presentations. The meeting concluded with the Hot Topics session, which covered treatment advances that we will surely see evolve over the upcoming years.
EAHAD 2019 was also an opportunity to honour contributions made to the field of bleeding disorders. Awards were given out on the final day for the meeting’s top poster and oral abstract presentations and to the two recipients of the 2019 EAHAD Research Grants, Dr Nathalie Roussel and Dr Samantha Gouw. The lifelong contributions of two healthcare professionals were also celebrated through the EAHAD Recognition Awards for Outstanding Contribution to the Haemophilia and Allied Bleeding Disorders Field presented to Professor Edward Tuddenham, haematologist, from the Royal Free Hospital in London, UK and Mr Piet de Kleijn, physiotherapist, from the Van Creveldkliniek in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
The 2019 EAHAD Annual Congress was our most successful yet. We would like to thank all of you who attended and made it such an memorable event. We hope to see all of you and more for the 13th Annual Congress of EAHAD, to be held from 5 to 7 February 2020 in The Hague, Netherlands, under the presidency of Prof Dr Karin Fijn van Draat.