River blindness is a major problem in the country, with an estimated 3.6 million people requiring treatment to protect them against the disease. This parasitic infection is spread by the bite of infected flies, and can cause severe skin irritation, itching and, over time, irreversible blindness.
Sightsavers is working with the ministry of health in Togo to control the disease and aims to reduce its impact by helping to improve the local healthcare system. We train local volunteers to give out medication to whole communities, which can prevent the disease spreading.
Sightsavers is also running education programmes in the country to raise awareness about the importance of eye health, and is carrying out surveys to track the spread of the disease.
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.
Since 1991, Sightsavers been helping Mali’s ministry of health to treat and prevent this blinding disease. Now the country is on track to banish it for good.
Schools in Kenya, Ethiopia and Guinea are using educational board games to teach children about the importance of good hygiene to help eliminate trachoma.
To tackle disease, we need to know who is affected. In Liberia, Sightsavers has studied mosquitoes and tested children to see how urban migration affects the spread of lymphatic filariasis.
Pelagie is an entomologist who’s paving the way for more women to lead in the fight against neglected tropical diseases.
On 30 January 2022, Sightsavers staff and supporters joined the global event to raise awareness about eliminating neglected tropical diseases.
The signing and passing into law of a new social decree that protects the rights of people with disabilities was years in the making. But how did we get to this historic moment?