Trachoma: In News
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared that the Government of India has eliminated Trachoma as a public health problem becoming the third country in the South-East Asia Region to achieve this milestone.
- Trachoma is a bacterial infection that affects the eyes.
- It is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia Trachomatis.
- It is contagious; spreading through contact with the eyes, eyelids, nose or throat secretions of infected people, if left untreated it causes irreversible blindness.
- It is found in communities that are living in poor environmental conditions.
- WHO has termed Trachoma as a neglected tropical disease and its estimation suggests that 150 million people worldwide are affected by Trachoma and 6 million of them are blind or at risk of visually disabling complications.
- The Government of India launched the National Trachoma Control Program in 1963 and later on Trachoma control efforts were integrated into India’s National Program for Control of Blindness (NPCB).
- As a result, in 2017, India was declared free from infective Trachoma. However, surveillance continued for trachoma cases in all the districts of India from 2019 onwards till 2024.
- The National Trachomatous Trichiasis (TT only) Survey was also carried out in 200 endemic districts of the country under the National Programme for Control of Blindness & Visual Impairment (NPCBVI) from 2021-24, which was a mandate set by WHO to declare that India has eliminated Trachoma as a public health problem.
- To eliminate trachoma as a public health problem, WHO recommends the SAFE strategy.
- The SAFE strategy includes:Surgery to treat the blinding stage (trachomatous trichiasis); Antibiotics to clear the infection, particularly the antibiotic azithromycin; Facial cleanliness and Environmental improvement, particularly improving access to water and sanitation.
- The 17 other countries that have eliminated trachoma are: Benin, Cambodia, China, Gambia, Ghana, Islamic Republic of Iran, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Togo and Vanuatu.
