Asia Pacific and South Africa
Fiona Wardman is HAEi’s Executive Vice President of Global Advocacy and Chief Diversity Officer. Fiona joined the Board in 2014 and serves as HAEi’s Treasurer. She leads the global advocacy team and oversees day-to-day efforts to help Member Organizations raise awareness and advocate for access to and reimbursement for modern HAE therapies. Fiona is also the Regional Patient Advocate for South Africa and several countries in the Asia Pacific region. She co-founded the Australasian HAE organization in 2011. Prior to joining the HAEi team, Fiona held managerial positions in a variety of companies and industries.
Contact Fiona by email: gro.ieah@namdraw.f
2023 Highlights and Hopes for 2024
In the December issue of Global Perspectives, each of our Regional Patient Advocates (RPAs) has selected a few of the most important moments and successes from the past year, as well as their hopes for 2024 for their region.
Here you have the highlights from Fiona – and her hopes for 2024:
I want to assist the region to grow with more collaborations and bring more attention from pharmaceutical companies to this underserved part of the world. Patient meetings, awareness, and education sessions are already planned in some countries. I hope to increase the number of patient groups by fostering connections and continuing to open doors in more countries in the region. I look forward to the 2024 HAEi Global Leadership Workshop in Copenhagen. Being able to bring all the region’s Member Organization (MO) leaders together, to connect once again, and to meet with others worldwide will be of huge benefit to further collaborations and create stronger MOs.
– Fiona Wardman
News from Global Perspectives 2023
Published in Global Perspectives, October 2023
From Regional Patient Advocate Fiona Wardman
The countries I look after in the Asia Pacific region have reduced due to HAEi’s newest RPA, Yong Hao Lim, taking them over. Yong Hao now looks after Eastern Asia – the countries included in his region are Singapore, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. You can read about the updates in these countries in Yong Hao’s write-up.
HAEi, HAE Bangladesh, and doctors from Hong Kong and India held an educational webinar for doctors in Bangladesh on 16 September to share information on HAE, diagnosis, and treatment options. We hope to locate more patients in Bangladesh through the broader community of doctors.
HAE Korea will soon have HAE TrackR, an emergency card, ED posters, and the Understanding HAE guide translated into Korean. We look forward to Korean patients and families using these great resources.
Due to the unfortunate situation in Afghanistan, HAE patients are struggling with attacks with no medication access and a lack of knowledge of HAE in the country. We are looking at ways to improve the current status.
Congratulations to HAE India, whose committee has successfully registered the organization. This exciting development will open doors to advocacy, running programs, and projects for Indian patients and their families. India now has multiple pharmaceutical companies with HAE therapies in the country, and they are keen to assist patients with a better quality of life.
HAE South Africa had 20 patients and family members attend our recent 2023 HAEi Regional Conference EMEA in Munich. It was wonderful to see the engagement and meet those who attended. There was also an opportunity for the leaders of HAE South Africa to meet with Daniella from Mozambique, who told her personal story during the Saturday session at the conference.
Published in Global Perspectives, June 2023
From Chief Regional Patient Advocate Fiona Wardman
The 2023 HAEi Regional Conference APAC in Bangkok, Thailand, was a success bringing together over 250 HAE patients, family members, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies to learn more about each other and HAE, to talk about advocacy, the importance of working together and the needs for the region.
I was pleased to see so many familiar faces and to meet new people I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to get together with.
The Regional Conference brought together people with a shared interest and commitment, motivation, and spirit from Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand.
I’m excited to see how our working together in this region will improve the quality of life for HAE patients.
Nepal is not yet a member of HAEi, but I am happy to report that Dr. Dharmagat Bhattarai from the Om Hospital & Research Center in Kathmandu participated in the Bangkok conference. Indeed, Dr. Bhattarai, who is a pediatric immunologist and rheumatologist, is the first HAE-knowledgeable physician we have registered in Nepal, where there are now five diagnosed patients. They can, at this stage, only be treated with danazol or tranexamic acid. Information on the hospital can be found at here.
Vietnam is another country still waiting to become a member of the HAEi family. Here we have registered the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Center of the Vinmec International Hospital Times City in Hanoi as the first HAE-knowledgeable hospital. >> For further information on the hospital, please see here.
