Afar trachoma project, Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one of the poorest nations in the world and the Afar region in the north-east is by far the most disadvantaged and under-resourced area of the country. No more than two health facilities serve a population of 1.3 million people. The literacy rate is 7% and fewer than 10% of the population has access to safe water.
Trachoma is a contagious eye disease and the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness. It is spread from person to person via hands, clothing, or flies and can affect entire families and communities. Because trachoma can occur during the most productive years of life, the economic well-being of the family is put at severe risk by this disease.
In the Afar region the rate of trachoma infection is particularly high, around 50%. This is because communities in the region suffer from poor hygiene and a lack of clean water. Compounding this situation is that there are only two trained primary eye care workers in the entire region.
Main objectives of the project
To implement the SAFE strategy – Surgery for trichiasis, Antibiotics for the active disease, Face washing, and Environmental sanitation:
- Improve health education, awareness, and promotion of trachoma prevention practices
- Increase access to clean water and sanitation
- Increase facial cleanliness, particularly for children
- Treat 80% of the backlog of cases through surgery
- Treat 700,000 people with antibiotics
Key achievements
- Local surgeons have been trained to perform eye surgery and over 1,000 operations have been performed so far.
- Local nurses have been trained to provide eye health care.
- Wells and boreholes have been constructed for clean water.
- Hygiene has been improved with the building of sanitary latrines.
- Antibiotics are now available and have been widely distributed.
- Sanitation and hygiene education is being delivered in schools and villages through trachoma and sanitation clubs and ‘village hygiene promoters’.
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