Trachoma

In News

• Recently, Malawi became the first country in southern Africa to eliminate Trachoma.

About 

• This makes Malawi the fourth country in WHO’s Africa region to achieve this milestone after: 
  • Ghana (June 2018), 
  • Gambia (April 2021) and 
  • Togo (May 2022).

Trachoma

• About:
  • It is the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness and is one of the conditions known as neglected tropical diseases.
  • It is a public health problem in 44 countries and is responsible for the blindness or visual impairment of about 1.9 million people. 
• Origin and symptoms: 
  • Trachoma starts off as a bacterial infection and can be easily treated. 
  • Overtime, it causes the eyelashes to be pushed inwards into the eye. So with every blink, they brush against the eyeball.
  • This advanced form of trachoma is called trichiasis. Over time, if it’s not treated, trichiasis can lead to blindness.
• Grows where: 
  • The disease thrives where there are water shortages, poor sanitation and infestations of flies, which are considered physical vectors of the disease.

Path to elimination – Global Trachoma Mapping Project 

• About: It was launched to map 25 districts suspected of being trachoma-endemic.
• The mapping survey aimed to: Determine the prevalence of active trachoma (TF) in 1-9-year-old children, and the prevalence of trachomatous trichiasis (TT) in adults aged 15 years and above. 

Source: DTE