Accelerate is supporting governments across 14 African countries to eliminate trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness. Here are some of this year’s highlights.
In the first three months of 2020, we supported teams in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe to deliver 12.6 million antibiotics to treat and help stop the spread of NTDs.
In the meantime, in the field, we saw health workers going above and beyond their duties, such as Babacar in Senegal. Under strict COVID-19 safety measures, Babacar continued to perform surgery for trichiasis, the advanced stage of trachoma, on people who came to his clinic.
We won a Pierre Fabre Foundation award for our TT (trachomatous trichiasis) Tracker app.
We continued working hard on activities that didn’t need close contact with communities, such as our support to ministries on integrating WASH and NTD data, and bringing together NTD data at the national level.
We adapted personal protective equipment through a face shield design challenge to find the most feasible way to wear magnifying glasses, a face shield and a mask for health workers assessing eyes for trachoma and carrying out surgery – without the protective layers steaming up.
Surgeries resumed in Katsina, Nigeria. Each time we resume work we are reviewing all our activities, and using what we learn to adapt work where needed in other areas and countries.
Now in its sixth year, the Accelerate programme has already delivered 53 million treatments to protect people from trachoma, and managed 91,000 advanced cases of the disease.
The extra funding from international donors will help speed up the elimination of trachoma in Africa by expanding and extending the programme.
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has awarded Sightsavers a grant of US$2.19 million to help fight the disease.