More than one in two people have symptoms and / or signs of venous-lymphatic pathology such as swollen, heavy or painful legs, but less than 50% of patients – even with skin signs of severe pathology (hyperpigmentation, eczema, lipodermatosclerosis) – are addressed at the appropriate specialist visit or receives a diagnosis in the early stages of the disease. This is one of the reasons why, on the occasion of the week of 5-11 April dedicated to health and in particular on 7 April, recognized by the World Health Organization as “world health day”, Venous-lymphatic World International Network foundation (v -Win) – an international non-profit organization for education in the venous and lymphatic field – has created an international public awareness project, aimed at increasing health attention on the issue of venous and lymphatic pathology of the lower limbs.
The Vein Week project – informs a note – will develop during the health week, connecting experts, patients and audiences from all over the world. Dedicated software has been made available free of charge to all health professionals and patient associations keen to add educational content. More than 150 initiatives have already been planned to date.
“Venous thrombosis is one of the leading causes of preventable death, lymphedema is considered a hidden epidemic, pelvic pain potentially associated with venous reflux is more frequent than asthma and back pain”, reports Sergio Gianesini, surgeon and president of the v-Win Foundation, underlining the importance of venous management of the population especially in the Covid era, where thrombotic complications represent one of the major clinical challenges to be faced.
The foundation – the note recalls – is based in Italy and represents the nerve center for activities on a global scale: it involves the academic world in international conferences, develops sports and educational projects, such as the Game Over to Leg Failure project and offers various educational initiatives, available on the website www.vwinfoundation.com. This year, Alfasigma will be supporting the initiative as the only Italian pharma among supporters. The unconditional support of the company, among the top 5 pharmaceutical players in Italy, has allowed the creation of a geo-calendaring software that shows on an interactive map the events developed and uploaded independently by vascular experts from all over the world. “All continents participate by uploading scientific, educational and social events to a dedicated website, according to a shared calendar. The most important scientific societies in the sector are involved”, adds Gianesini. The web page connected to the geo-calendaring software (https: / /veinweek.vwinfoundation.com) will remain active even after Vein Week.
“The added value that Alfasigma gives to the important Vein Week event is to allow the sharing of local initiatives on a global level – explains Federico Riccardini of Alfasigma -. More than 200 events have already been uploaded autonomously from all parts of the world and each of these can be customized with videos, interviews and other presentation content. ”Guiding this support initiative is the desire to invest in digital software to support health, which thus becomes one of the many pieces of the multinational’s digital transformation process pharmaceutical.
“A dedicated campaign focused on raising awareness of venous and lymphatic disorder, as well as its association with complication during the Covid-19 pandemic, is crucial for the care of those who have suffered from the disease,” concludes Willy Chi, founder and board member of the v-WIN Foundation.