April 17 marks World Hemophilia Day – a moment to highlight a rare condition and the people working to improve its care. This year, Care to Translate proudly joins the global effort by addressing one of hemophilia care’s most persistent and overlooked challenges: language barriers.
2025-04-14
Blog
Hemophilia is a rare, inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood doesn’t clot properly. This is due to a deficiency or absence of specific clotting factors – most commonly factor VIII (Hemophilia A) or factor IX (Hemophilia B). Even minor injuries can lead to prolonged bleeding, internal hemorrhages, or joint damage. In severe cases, spontaneous bleeding can occur without any obvious cause.
The cornerstone of modern hemophilia care is prophylactic treatment – the regular injection of clotting factor concentrates or newer non-factor therapies to prevent bleeding episodes. This approach allows patients to lead more active lives, with fewer hospital visits and long-term complications.
But there’s a catch: adherence is everything. Missing doses or misunderstanding administration instructions can have serious, sometimes life-threatening consequences. And this is where language and communication play a critical role – especially for patients who are new to prophylactic care or come from countries where such treatments are not available.
Hemophilia requires patients to follow strict, ongoing treatment regimens. For non-German-speaking individuals living in Germany, this becomes a daily challenge. In Germany, up to 15% of hemophilia patients face significant language barriers, and half of those also lack English proficiency.
For healthcare providers, this dramatically increases the time and effort needed to ensure safe care. Routine appointments can take more than three times longer when language barriers are present. Many clinics rely on workarounds like family interpreters, bilingual staff, or unverified machine translation tools – none of which meet clinical safety standards.
For patients unfamiliar with prophylaxis, particularly those from regions where it is not commonly available, the learning curve is steep. Understanding the purpose, schedule, and technique of administration is vital not just for immediate safety, but for long-term health and quality of life. Without understandable communication, adherence falters and preventable complications arise.
That’s where Care to Translate comes in.
In a newly launched partnership with Bayer Vital, we’ve co-created a comprehensive hemophilia-specific medical phrase library, tailored for Germany’s complex treatment landscape. This library, now integrated into the Care to Translate app, includes approximately 150 medically validated phrases in 47 languages.
The phrases are structured around key communication touchpoints that appear throughout the hemophilia patient journey – from first contact to treatment follow-up. Topics include reception and registration, scheduling and consultations, instructions for medication, emergency situations, daily management, and preparation for surgery.
By using standardized, verified phrases, healthcare providers can drastically reduce the time spent clarifying instructions or improvising with unverified tools – freeing up valuable time while improving patient understanding and safety.
During the development phase of this project, we visited two pilot centers: the Charité Pediatric Coagulation Center in Berlin and the Coagulation Center at University Hospital Frankfurt. Both offered valuable insights, but the visit to Frankfurt stood out for how clearly it illustrated the role of frontline staff in shaping patient experiences, especially when language is a barrier.
At the reception desk, we met a team member who speaks Turkish and was enthusiastic when she learned about the Care to Translate initiative – especially upon hearing that the app includes medical phrases in Turkish. Aysen takes pride in welcoming Turkish-speaking patients in their own language, helping them feel comfortable and understood from the start.
"In Frankfurt, around 160 languages are spoken." Aysen, receptionist at University Hospital Frankfurt
Aysen shared that she often sees this diversity reflected in the waiting room. While she’s glad she can support some patients in their own language, she also described feeling helpless and frustrated when patients arrive speaking a language she doesn’t understand, especially when they’re in need of reassurance or guidance.
Her response to the app was a clear reminder: language support tools don’t just benefit doctors – they empower the entire care team, from reception to recovery. In a city as multilingual as Frankfurt, this isn’t just helpful – it’s essential.
One of the most inspiring parts of this project has been witnessing the strength and openness of the German hemophilia community. Made up of clinicians, nurses, patient advocates, scientists, pharma partners, and digital health innovators, this community consistently shows a shared commitment to improving care – together, across traditional boundaries.
This project is a clear example of that spirit. Language barriers weren’t initially a focus area for Bayer, but the issue was raised from the ground up by healthcare professionals in its hemophilia network, who encountered communication challenges every day. Their observations set the foundation for this collaboration, making it a true case of community-driven and problem-led innovation.
The phrase library was co-developed with key opinion leaders, hemophilia nurses, HCPs, and patient organizations, ensuring that it reflects both clinical workflows and real patient needs. The result is a solution built not just for the community, but with it.
The partnership between Care to Translate and Bayer Vital is a powerful example of what happens when sectors unite around a common goal – blending medical expertise, digital innovation, and a shared responsibility to improve care for all patients in Germany.
At Care to Translate, our mission is rooted in healthcare equity. Hemophilia may be rare, but the challenge it highlights – language as a social determinant of health – is anything but. This World Hemophilia Day (April 17), we’re shining a light on how language barriers impact access to care, especially for those living with rare conditions like hemophilia.
While hemophilia may be rare, the issue it underscores – language as a social determinant of health – is widespread. This initiative supports two key UN Sustainable Development Goals: reducing inequalities and fostering partnerships to achieve these goals. It also aligns with this year’s World Hemophilia Day theme: “Access for all”, with special focus on underserved groups like girls and women with bleeding disorders.
We believe technology should empower, not exclude. And with our hemophilia phrase library, we hope to create more dignified, accurate, and inclusive communication in health care – because everyone deserves to be understood.
While this initiative is currently being piloted in Germany, the challenge of language barriers in hemophilia care knows no borders. Around the world, patients face the same communication hurdles – missing critical instructions, struggling with treatment adherence, and feeling unsafe or unseen in care environments.
On this World Hemophilia Day, we invite healthcare professionals, patient advocates, and hemophilia centers globally to consider how language access can transform care. This project is a model of how communities, healthcare systems, and pharma can collaborate to close communication gaps, wherever they exist.
Want to see the hemophilia library in action or explore how Care to Translate can support your team?