Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Blind man in Uganda who lost his sight due to trachoma
Blindness due to trachoma affects 8 million people – mainly in developing countries. Photograph: Walter Astrada/AFP
Blindness due to trachoma affects 8 million people – mainly in developing countries. Photograph: Walter Astrada/AFP

With $1bn, blinding trachoma can be eliminated in four years – experts

This article is more than 7 years old

Ending preventable blindness in poor countries and remote Indigenous Australians described as ‘the best buy in terms of public health’

Eliminating blinding trachoma worldwide within four years is “highly doable” but it would cost US$1bn, the world’s leading eye health experts estimate.

The ambitious goal is backed up by the findings of a global mapping project, presented at the World Health Organisation’s alliance for the global elimination of trachoma by 2020 (GET2020) in Sydney on Tuesday.

Achieving the goal would include eradicating trachoma in Australia, where it affects Indigenous communities in remote areas of the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Australia is the only developed country where people still go blind from trachoma, a disease that can be prevented in childhood by having adequate places for children to wash their faces.

The mapping project, which surveyed 2.6 million people in 29 countries over three years, estimated the cost of meeting the 2020 goal as US$1bn, of which up to US$300m has already been raised.

Dr Anthony Solomon, chief scientist for the mapping project, said it was a “very modest amount of money” to rid the world of preventable blindness.

“If you look at [the question] ‘Is this a preventable disease?’ then it’s a resounding ‘Yes’; this is something that can be prevented as a cause of blindness,” Solomon said.

“The case is made and in terms of economic return the results are there, in that this is the best buy in terms of public health.”

According to WHO data, 1.2 million people have irreversible trachoma. Solomon said that 200 million people were at risk of the disease, and 3.6 million people needed surgery to avoid blindness.

He said eradicating endemic trachoma in the next four years was “highly doable” but only if the global eye health community increased pressure on governments and NGOs to get the money required.

“We have got an incredible opportunity to get this done … I think there’s no reason that we shouldn’t get this done.”

Trachoma begins as a bacterial infection that causes scarring on the inside of the eyelid, which then rubs against the eye and damages the cornea. Eventually the eyelashes turn inward, causing blindness.

The mapping project found that while 42 countries had been assessed as needing a public health intervention to eliminate trachoma, almost half of the people at risk of the disease lived in the poorest countries: Ethiopia, Nigeria and Malawi.

“It is explicitly linked to poverty,” Solomon said.

“It’s very much about the poorest regions in the poorest countries, the poorest communities in those regions and the poorest families in those communities.”

“It’s the most unfair of all things that it’s these poor people who go blind, and that makes them poorer.”

Virginia Sarah, the chair of the International Coalition for Trachoma Control (ICTC) and Fred Hollows Foundation executive, said the link between trachoma and poverty meant measures to reduce trachoma could be linked to an improvement in general health.

“It’s just one disease that has a lot of commonalities with other neglected tropical disease,” Sarah said. “It’s just a fantastic tracer for poverty eradication.”

Sarah said funds in the next four years would be focused on “implementation gaps” for the WHO’s “safe” strategy, which stands for surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness and environmental improvement, as well as funding the surgical bill in countries with the highest rates of endemic trachoma.

“It’s an ancient disease that shouldn’t exist, that is treatable, and that we can get rid of,” she said.

“We are absolutely looking for high-level political commitment but that commitment has to follow through ... We are not really looking for big speeches unless there is money behind it.”

Solomon began work on the GET2020 alliance soon after it was formed in 1996. He said he would be “absolutely delighted” to do himself out of a job.

“I’m not at all worried about where I am going to get a paycheck from in 2021. I have been involved in this sector for 16, 17 years and I would absolutely love it.”

  • This story was amended on 27 April to correct the number of people with irreversible blindness due to trachoma. The initial figure of 8 million is considered out of date and the current figure is 1.2 million.

More on this story

More on this story

  • New gene therapy treatment boosts quest for vision loss cures

  • Smelling New York: a blind man on the scents and sounds of the city

  • Children with cataracts regain sight after radical stem cell treatment

  • Treatments for cancers and Alzheimer's on the verge of a breakthrough

  • Biff, bang, pow! The 13 genetic superheroes who can save the world

  • Sorry, but you can’t blame your children’s genes

  • Tears as MPs’ vote ends long wait for breakthrough on mitochondrial disease

  • 'I liked being blind – people took a lot of notice of me'

Comments (…)

Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion

Most viewed

Most viewed