Archive for the ‘Trachoma’ category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Jemma Kidd Make Up Jumping Into the Fight Against Trachoma

October 21st, 2011

By: Alanna Shaikh

Inspired by a trip to Ethiopia with ORBIS, cosmetics maven Jemma Kidd will donate £1.50 for every product purchased to the fight against trachoma. The money will go to ORBIS’s efforts to fight trachoma in Ethiopia, helping to prevent blindness.

Trachoma is not one of those NTDs that you can have for a long time and not know it, not at all. Trachoma is an extremely painful bacterial infection of the eyes. Here, I’ll quote the press release from Jemma Kidd, “Trachoma is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the eyecausing inflamed granulation on the inner surface of the lids. If left untreated, it can turn the eyelid inward, causing the eyelashes to scar the delicate cornea, resulting in agonising pain and permanent blindness.” It makes me cringe just thinking about it. Trachoma spreads rapidly from person to person, through contacts as brief as shaking hands. It’s especially common in kids under five, and can lead to blindness in adulthood.[1] » Read more: Jemma Kidd Make Up Jumping Into the Fight Against Trachoma

No comments »

Posted in Blindness, NTDs, Trachoma

Tags:

More from World Sight Day!

October 17th, 2011

Happy Monday readers! We’d like to draw attention to some interesting pick up from last week’s World Sight Day:

Is the end in Sight for Trachoma?
Simon Bush, Director of African Alliances and Advocacy at Sightsavers, authored an op-ed for The Huffington Post, United Kingdom. Trachoma and the WHO approved SAFE strategy for eliminating the disease are both mentioned in the op-ed.

Eye camp to mark World Sight Day
The eyes of 350 people were checked as part of an eye check-up camp held on Saturday and Sunday to mark World Sight Day. Published in the Times of India.

World Sight Day: A See Change
The Huffington Post highlights World Sight Day.

TOMS – World Sight Day 2011
Featured video from TOMSshoes on World Sight Day.

No comments »

Posted in Blindness, Trachoma, Vision

Tags:

Reading List 10/14/2011

October 14th, 2011

Happy Friday readers! End the week with the latest in global health and NTD news. Today we’re reading about:

Soap ‘n’ Water, please: campaign aims to make handwashing a habit in China
“A battalion of more than 300 hungry elementary school students storm toward the dining hall, eager to get their hands on mantou,or steamed bread. Washing their hands prior is required by teachers, but with only eight hand-washing stations, the words are ignored by many, because evidently, appetite trumps cleanliness. But there are some students at Zhongxun Elementary School in Dancun Town, northwest China’s Shaanxi province, realizing the importance of washing hands.”

Sydney University health fund to fight disease in East Timor
“The University of Sydney has established a charitable fund which will collaborate with the country’s Ministry of Health, the National University of East Timor and the World Health Organisation to help improve health care in a range of areas. The relationships already exist but this new fund will channel money into new and ongoing projects, including a focus on three common and debilitating infections.”

Jemma Kidd Speaks out About Unnecessary Blindness in Ethiopia and Launches the Jemma Kidd VISIONfund
“Moved and humbled by the fact that blinding diseases can be prevented for as little as 25p, founder of Jemma Kidd Make Up, Jemma Kidd, speaks out on the shocking reality that 10 million people in Ethiopia suffer from disease causing blindness and 100% needlessly so. During a recent trip to Ethiopia with sight-saving charity ORBIS, Jemma saw first-hand how a disease that is no longer prevalent in the West is devastating lives, leaving families and communities facing hardship, suffering and isolation, making every day a struggle to survive. Trachoma is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the eye, causing inflamed granulation on the inner surface of the lids. If left untreated, it can turn the eyelid inward, causing the eyelashes to scar the delicate cornea, resulting in agonising pain and permanent blindness.”

No comments »

Posted in NTDs, Trachoma

Tags:

Is the end in sight for trachoma?

October 13th, 2011

Happy World Sight Day! In honor of this day, we’re featuring a guest blog post from Simon Bush of SightSavers.

By: Simon Bush, Director of Advocacy and African Alliances at Sightsavers

Trachoma is the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness, affecting an astounding 27.8 million people in Africa alone. According to the International Coalition for Trachoma Control (ICTC), trachoma blinds four people every hour[1].  It is a disease of poverty inextricably linked to a lack of sanitation, which causes repeated eye infections that can lead to blindness if left untreated. It is known as a neglected tropical disease (NTD), meaning that it receives little attention or funding despite its heavy impact on the lives of people suffering from it.

We know from Sightsavers’ work across Africa and Asia, and from the work of other organizations that strategies for controlling blinding NTDs are already proving to be cost effective with a strong record of success, so it seems wrong that a disease like trachoma remains largely ignored and untreated.

This is why today, on World Sight Day, Sightsavers is making the biggest single commitment we have ever made – £62 million ($97.5 million) – to eradicate this terrible disease within the next ten years. We are taking unprecedented steps to ensure that trachoma is eliminated from the 14 African and Asian countries where it is endemic, by 2020.

By treating trachoma, alongside other NTDs such as onchoceriasis and schistosomiasis, we know that we can make a significant difference to people’s lives. Aside from the constant pain of later stage trachoma, called trichaisis, blindness can have a devastating blow on people’s livelihoods in developing countries. As there is often little support available to people living with disabilities in the developing world, they and their families have little chance of ending the cycle that keeps them in poverty, which is why tangible solutions to curing and preventing disability are so important. » Read more: Is the end in sight for trachoma?

1 comment »

Posted in Trachoma

Tags: