By promoting better hygiene, health education and donated antibiotics, blindness could be drastically reduced, according to an article by a University of Cambridge PhD candidate in this week’s issue of The Lancet.
By promoting better hygiene, health education and donated antibiotics, blindness could be drastically reduced, according to an article by a University of Cambridge PhD candidate in this week’s issue of The Lancet.
By promoting better hygiene, health education and donated antibiotics, blindness could be drastically reduced, according to an article by a University of Cambridge PhD candidate in this week’s issue of The Lancet.
One of the leading causes of preventable blindness worldwide, affecting 84 million people, is an infectious disease of the eye known as trachoma. This is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, which causes inflammation, scarring of the eyelid, and eventually blindness. Trachoma is rife in overcrowded and poverty stricken areas of the developing world, where it is easily spread from person to person due to lack of water and poor sanitation.
Dr Jeremiah Ngondi, at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, and colleagues in collaboration with The Carter Center conducted a 3-year evaluation of trachoma control programme in southern Sudan. A strategy known as SAFE (surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness and environmental change) was implemented in southern Sudan starting in 2001. This community-based approach was designed to fight trachoma by treating the infection, increasing the availability of eye-healthcare, and improving hygiene. Researchers assessed children aged between 1-9 years in four separate districts, for signs of trachoma and unclean faces.
After 3 years, in two of the sites in which SAFE uptake was high, the prevalence of active trachoma had decreased by 92% and 91% and unclean faces by 87% and 38% respectively. In one of the remaining districts, where the uptake of SAFE was low, only 2% reduction in the prevalence of active trachoma was seen.
Dr Ngondi concludes, "Our study shows that SAFE works and that dramatic results can be achieved with the SAFE strategy in trachoma endemic areas. The study raises several potential areas of future research: the SAFE strategy was designed for trachoma control but will have collateral health benefits on other communicable diseases such as diarrhoea, intestinal helminths, pneumonia and malaria."
An interview with Dr Ngondi is available on the Lancet website.
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