Behavioural change interventions for sustained trachoma elimination

10 Sep 2018
Dodson S, Heggen A, Solomon AW, Sarah V, Woods G, Wohlgemuth L,

Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness. Significant progress has been made towards the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem since the launch, in 1996, of the Alliance for the Global Elimination of Trachoma by 2020, and the endorsement of the alliance’s goal by the Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1998. Elimination is within reach if the global health community maintains focus, continues to innovate and collaborate and secures the necessary resources.

Strong international collaboration, high-quality prevalence data, the evidence-based Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial Cleanliness, Environmental Improvement (SAFE) strategy endorsed by WHO, Pfizer’s azithromycin donation scheme,significant donor support and strong political will have enabled a tremendous programmatic scale-up towards the elimination of trachoma. In 2017 alone, 84 million people received antibiotics for trachoma and more than 231 000 people received trichiasis treatment.

The effects of these efforts are now being observed. Between 2007 and 2018, the number of people at risk of trachoma-related blindness dropped from 1244 million to 158 million. In 2018, Nepal and Ghana became the sixth and seventh countries validated by WHO as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem.