Accelerating trachoma elimination through ‘Stronger-SAFE’

The five year, Wellcome Trust funded ‘Stronger-SAFE’ research programme aims to use cutting edge molecular tools alongside detailed clinical, epidemiological, observational and entomological methods to try to better understand and define transmission of trachoma and to develop and test novel, contextually appropriate interventions to interrupt transmission, accelerating

the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem, particularly in highly endemic communities in Ethiopia. The programme is a collaboration between the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Federal Ministry of Health in Ethiopia, the Oromia Regional Health Bureau,

the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) and The Fred Hollows Foundation. The programme aims to build technical capacity in Oromia, including the establishment of a molecular laboratory for Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) diagnostic testing of conjunctival samples.