Trachoma Matters | Global Trachoma Mapping and Supply Chain Assessments

With UK Funding, Health Workers Begin Global Trachoma Surveys in Ethiopia

Five-year-old Bigiltuu Kefeni from Keta Town in central Ethiopia was one of the first to be examined by a specially trained ophthalmic nurse, under a new global trachoma mapping program. (Photo courtesy of Dominic Nahr/Magnum/Sightsavers.)

Teams of trained health workers are traveling throughout Ethiopia to determine trachoma prevalence, a crucial step in starting treatment to eliminate the blinding disease by 2020. A major barrier to elimination has been the lack of knowledge about exactly where the disease is prevalent and therefore where interventions are necessary.

This all changed recently, when the UK government decided to fund an initiative to survey more than 1,200 districts in 34 countries where trachoma is suspected to be endemic.

Learn about global trachoma mapping here.

Assessing the Supply Chain to Reach Those in Need

A shipment of medicine moves through the supply chain from a central storage facility onto a truck and out to communities where it will be distributed. (Photo by Danny Haddad for ITI.)

Trachoma Matters interviewed Fernanda Debellian, logistics coordination expert, about supply chain assessments, what they are and why they're critical for countries that want to treat blinding trachoma.

Read the full interview about assessing the supply chain here.

New Report Shows Progress Against NTDs

From Promises to Progress, a report released to coincide with the first anniversary of the historic London Declaration on NTDs, outlines major successes, existing gaps and a path toward reaching ambitious 2020 goals to eliminate neglected tropical diseases.

The report shows that by uniting together as never before global partners in the fight against NTDs, including blinding trachoma, made substantial progress from January 2012 to January 2013.

Read the full report here.

News Briefs

Trachoma Action Plan in Burkina Faso

TAP and post-MDA surveillance workshop participants in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso included from left to right: Alassane OUARE (PNPC), Dr Francois Drabo (PNMTN), Tiba Pima (HKI), Dr Boubacar Kadri (PNSO / Niger), Chantal Veira (ITI), Issouf Bamba (HKI / Burkina), Dr Christian Somda (DLM Pharmacist), Martin Kabore (PNPC), Fatim Traore (Intern HKI / Burkina), Dr. Joseph Koroma (FHKI360 / Ghana), Dr. Ousmane Sanfo (National Coordinator / PNPC).

In January 2013, ITI participated in two workshops held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to produce a National Trachoma Action Plan or TAP and a Post-Endemic Trachoma Surveillance plan. Working in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Helen Keller International and FHI 360, ITI helped in reviewing Burkina Faso's trachoma blindness prevention program in terms of the F & E components of the SAFE Strategy, the scale-up of surgery efforts to reduce the backlog of TT cases, and the increasing communication and collaboration between the Ministry of Health and partners.

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Upcoming Meetings

March 14 | Decatur, Georgia USA

Meets at The Task Force for Global Health.

April 9 | Atlanta, Georgia, USA

A World Water Day event at Emory University will highlight transformational efforts being made in the field of water, sanitation, and hygiene. Event is sponsored by a coalition of public health and development organizations based in Atlanta, including ITI, Children Without Works, and the Emory Center for Global Safe Water.

April 22-24 | World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

Global partners working on trachoma meet at the GET 2020 (Global Elimination of Trachoma by 2020)

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Relevant Articles

GIS Helps Fight World's Leading Cause of Preventable Blindness: Tracking the Global Distribution of Trachoma published on ArcNews highlights how researchers have combined smartphone and Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute) technologies, including a geographic information system (GIS), to quickly assess the prevalence of trachoma in remote regions and pinpoint gaps in prevention and treatment services. (See Global Mapping piece above.)

How c o mmunities can control t rachoma without a big budget, recently published in the Community Eye Health Journal, discusses trachoma prevention measures that can be implemented with minimal costs to households or to the wider community. The authors, Stephanie Ogden and Paul Emerson, explain that community heath promoters can start with simple tasks, such as promoting face washing among families or organizing women's groups or village trachoma control committees.

WASH/NTD Roundtable Discussion: Finding Synergies between Water Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) and the Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) is the Discussion Report regarding a two-day meeting of 30 participants representing research institutions, private philanthropy, bilateral aid, and NGOs in December 2012. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hosted the roundtable discussion and co-organized it with Emory University's Center for Global Safe Water, ITI and Children Without Worms.

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New Members of the ITI Team Support Countries To Scale Up

SAFE Implementation

Two new Senior Program Associates recently joined ITI to provide program support to countries implementing the SAFE strategy and technical assistance for the scale up of the Zithromax® donation. They will both assist with preparation of annual forecasts and drug applications, as well as the development of National Trachoma Action Plans that aim at eliminating trachoma as a source of blindness.

Birgit Bolton, MPH, Senior Program Associate

Ms. Bolton was most recently a contract Project Coordinator with CDC's National Center for Environmental Health from 2007-2012 where she was the principal investigator for health studies assessing risk factors for environmental contaminants in selected populations. See Ms. Bolton's full bio here.

Joanna Pritchard, MA, Senior Program Associate

Prior to joining ITI, Joanna worked in Haiti as a Program Manager on infrastructure reconstruction and cholera response activities with the International Organization for Migration. See Ms. Pritchard's full bio here.

MARCH 2013

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A quarterly e-newsletter from the International Trachoma Initative (ITI), dedicated to the elimination of blinding trachoma, the world's leading cause of preventable blindness.