It is one of 17 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that affect more than 1 billion of the world’s poorest people. Yet we have the tools to prevent transmission of trachoma, and to eliminate blinding trachoma by 2020.
Improved access to safe water and adequate sanitation, and the implementation of good hygiene practices, are essential for trachoma prevention and control.
As even more countries get closer to eliminating trachoma, a new challenge is emerging: how to keep the health workforce well-trained on identifying signs of the disease.
Benin and Ghana, two of the countries where Sightsavers works, have been recognised for their success in wiping out several diseases that are prevalent in poor and marginalised communities.
Sightsavers researchers are working to understand how we can care for women with female genital schistosomiasis, a devastating disease that affects millions of women in Africa.