The disease causes many unpleasant symptoms, but is frequently characterised by abnormal enlargement of body parts, including the hands, feet and scrotum (known as hydrocele).
Sightsavers has supported work in Niger to combat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as lymphatic filariasis thanks to the UK aid flagship NTD programme Ascend West and Central Africa. This three-year programme is made up of a consortium of partners, including Sightsavers, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), Mott MacDonald, and the SCI Foundation.
In the first year of Ascend, we helped to carry out 200 operations for hydrocele. The programme is also planning to protect communities from other NTDs such as schistosomiasis and intestinal worms.
Representatives from Sightsavers, the national and state governments and the global health community joined an event on 20 November in Abuja to celebrate Sightsavers’ achievements in the country.
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’ Boubacar Morou Dicko shares the obstacles Mali faced on the road to eliminating trachoma, and how the country was able to overcome them.
Both countries’ achievements have been validated by the World Health Organization, meaning they join a growing list of countries to have banished the disease.
Benin has become the latest country to eliminate blinding trachoma. Here we meet people whose lives have been transformed, and those who helped to banish the disease.
Sightsavers’ Liesbeth Roolvink and Gillian Mackay share learnings from the SMILE project in Nigeria, where a new questionnaire is being used in schools to assess children’s educational needs.