Colombia 3 project

Strengthening our life skills

Partner institution
Liga Antioqueña de Hemofílicos (LIHEA), Medellín

Represented by
David Andrés Cuartas Bolivar

Duration
2.5 years, Q1 2019 – Q3 2021

Status
Completed

Objectives

• Establish and promote life skills at interpersonal and family levels, to 250 PwH and 250 family members to improve relationship, adherence to treatment and life projects
• Sensitise 50 HCPs from 10 hospitals in the department on humanised and comprehensive care that promotes psychosocial accompaniment and education within the care models
• Improve knowledge of teachers from 20 educational institutions in the department to promote better integration and performance of children with haemophilia
• Implement a digital platform to foster access to educational material to PwH and their families in the different regions of Antioquia and Colombia ensuring continuity over time

Strengthening life skills for people with haemophilia

Empathy. Self-awareness. Problem-solving. Coping with stress and emotions. These are some of what the World Health Organisation defines as life skills or ‘abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.’

Colombia’s third project supported by the Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation sets out to strengthen life skills among people living with haemophilia and their families. The project objectives also aim to sensitise healthcare professionals from 10 hospitals in the region to comprehensive care models and improve knowledge of teachers, to promote better education and integration of children with bleeding disorders.

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Achievements

This project brought awareness on psychosocial elements related to haemophilia and bleeding disorders which are often put aside by the different stakeholders.

• Organisation of 9 initial interactive workshops for 263 people with haemophilia and 470 family members as well as 6 follow-up sessions for 219 people with haemophilia and 220 family members. Topics tackled during the sessions included general information on haemophilia and von Willebrand disease, general information on the Life Skills as well as key elements on selected Life Skills relevant to people with haemophilia including self-awareness, coping with emotions, empathy and interpersonal skills.
• 20 educational institutions received the visit of members of the Liga Antioqueña de Hemofilícos for a total of 243 participants reached including both teachers and students.
• The project team also shared Life Skills’ information to 5 healthcare centres in the department of Antioquia in a virtual way using digital tools such as Miro for more interactivity with the participants.

With this, the project partner successfully highlighted the importance of psychosocial support in the comprehensive management of people with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders, explored different forms of support as well as created opportunities for awareness and reflection on living with a chronic disease.

Aside from educational sessions, the project partner collaborated with the University of Medellin for the development of a mobile phone application called HAVI which aims at incentivising the learning and assimilation of the Life Skills through gamification. This allows the dissemination of the information beyond national borders with, depending on its success, the possibility to expand it to other countries with a version in English. A new webpage for the patient organisation has also been developped facilitate the sharing of information with the community.