More than a million people examined for trachoma

In just over a year, more than one million people across four continents have been examined for trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness. This was achieved through Tropical Data, a service which supports national health ministries to collect data in the global fight to eliminate trachoma, a painful neglected tropical disease (NTD).

The latest Tropical Data milestone was achieved in the Chienge district of Zambia, where the one-millionth person was recently examined for signs of trachoma. As well as working alongside ministries of health in 21 African nations, the service has also worked with countries in South America, Asia and Oceania.

In total, health ministries in 28 countries have used the service, which provides countries with epidemiological and training support, as well as data management and analysis.

Trachoma is still a public health problem in 39 countries, causing blindness or visual impairment for 1.9 million people globally, but there are very encouraging signs of progress. The latest global blindness figures, published by medical journal The Lancet, suggest that the number of people at risk of going blind from infectious diseases such as trachoma is lower than expected, given the growing and ageing global population.

The WHO Alliance for Get2020, which brings together a diverse group of organisations, aims to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem worldwide by 2020. The Tropical Data service is just one part of this journey.

Read the whole news story here: https://www.sightsavers.org/news/2017/10/million-examined-for-trachoma/