In June 2018, Ghana made history as the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to eliminate trachoma, as validated by the World Health Organisation. Sightsavers has been working in Ghana since 2000, when about 2.8 million people in the country were estimated to be at risk of trachoma.
Trachoma is a Neglected Tropical Disease – an infectious condition spread by flies and human touch, linked to poverty and lack of access to clean water and sanitation. It starts as a bacterial infection and if left untreated, eyelashes painfully scratch the surface of the eye and can cause irreversible blindness.
On 13 June 2018 the World Health Organisation (WHO) made the official announcement that Ghana had eliminated the disease as a public health problem.
According to the most recent statistics, there are about 157 million people at risk of trachoma in 43 countries, the vast majority of which are in Africa.
Ghana’s breakthrough achievements show that eliminating this eye disease is possible, and it is hoped this will pave the way for many other countries to follow.
The final treatment campaign in the country took place in the northern province of Yendi, where community health workers travelled door to door to find any remaining patients that needed treatment for the disease.
Here is just one story from that final campaign in Ghana:
Women are four times more likely to develop advanced trachoma than men. When eye health workers visited sisters Barikisu and Ayishetu, both midwives, they found they were struggling to do their job and deliver babies because trachoma was robbing them of their sight.
The sisters could hardly see, and could only walk the short distance between their houses. But after having surgery, they can now see, travel and deliver babies again.
“I can’t remember exactly how long I’ve had this problem – more than a year,” said Ayishetu. “It felt like there was something in my eye, a pricking sensation and a lot of pain. I could help the new mothers bathe their babies, but I couldn’t deliver like I used to. It was hard to see the mothers in labour and not be able to help. I had difficulty carrying out daily tasks – I could only see blurriness.
“I didn’t know there was a solution to this problem – I was only praying, just waiting to be blind. When they told us we could be helped, I was happy and I felt that my prayers had been answered.”
In 2015, ElectricAid supported the purchase of Trachoma Treatment Kits which surgeons usesd to perform surgeries on advanced trachoma (trichiasis). Thanks to this support and Sightsavers’ collaboration between other partners and supporters, more than 6,000 people in Ghana had pain-relieving and sight-saving surgery and 3.3 million doses of antibiotics helped to treat and protect people from infection.
Thanks to the support of ElectricAid’s donors, Sightsavers have achieved a major milestone in eliminating avoidable blindness in developing countries like Ghana. Elimination of trachoma in Ghana is huge news to celebrate, and we hope that you too celebrate the part that you played in making this happen. Thank you.
Click here to watch the Ghana Elimination video.
Ref: 15-A-053
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