ITI is proud to have worked this year on a range of innovations that are having real impact in the prevention and treatment of trachoma and other NTDs worldwide, including:
Photo: William Vazquez for Pfizer
Celebrating 15 years of working to end blinding trachoma with two events: one at Pfizer headquarters in New York City, with former President Jimmy Carter and Pfizer CEO Ian Read, and another in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia with The Carter Center administering the 100 millionth dose of Zithromax® donated by Pfizer in Ethiopia.
Photo: Birgit Bolton for ITI
Managing the distribution of 51.2 million doses of Zithromax®
to treat and prevent blinding trachoma in 2013, with two Senior Program Associates observing mass drug administrations (MDAs) in Guinea and Sudan.
In 15 years, ITI has managed the distribution of 340 million doses of Zithromax® to 28 countries in Africa and Asia.
Photo: Joanna Pritchard for ITI
Participating in the Global Trachoma Mapping Project (GTMP)which has examined over one million people for trachoma since December 2012. With funding from the British government, thousands of health workers have mapped trachoma in Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique and Ethiopia. GTMP is in the process of expanding its work to more countries.
Collaborating with our partners to help eliminate trachoma in Common-wealth countries in Africa. ITI is a member of the International Coalition for Trachoma Control (ICTC), which received over $70 million (£42.8 million GBP) from the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. The ICTC program will reach some 12.4 million people with medicine and will do surgery on close to 200,000 people with the advanced stages of the disease.
Photo: Elizabeth Kurylo for ITI
Conducting NTD media and advocacy trainings. ITI, in partnership with RTI ENVISION, conducted an intensive two-day media training for 11 Senegalese Ministry of Health officials, a one-day workshop for 19 journalists, and a day of field visits with reporters to increase reporting about the impact of neglected topical diseases in Senegal.
Introducing new members of the Trachoma Expert Committee, including three from Africa and an epidemiologist from London who specializes in mapping prevalence of neglected tropical diseases. TEC members provide invaluable advice to ITI on strategic, technical and operational issues and meets twice a year to review country applications for Zithromax®.
Photo: William Vazquez for Pfizer
Welcoming new ITI Director Paul Emerson in 2014. Dr. Emerson joins us from The Carter Center where he has been director of the Trachoma Control Program since 2004. Emerson said he is "thrilled for the opportunity to join ITI at such an important juncture for the global program. With our partners who share the goal of global elimination of blinding trachoma by 2020, we will be able to provide Zithromax® for tens of millions of additional people in many new countries."
We are grateful to our international and in-country partners who helped make these accomplishments possible and look forward to our continued work together in 2014.
An e-newsletter from the International Trachoma Initative (ITI), dedicated to the elimination of blinding trachoma, the world's leading cause of preventable blindness.
