Course: Eliminating Trachoma

Public health can be defined as “efforts to protect, promote and restore the people’s health”. It is a combination of sciences, skills and beliefs directed to the maintenance and improvement …

The World Health Organization (WHO) has a thorough protocol that member states need to complete to validate the elimination of trachoma in their country. The WHO document Validation of the …

The SAFE implementation programme in Morocco set clear goals known as Ultimate Intervention Goals (UIGs) that needed to be achieved by 2005. S – The surgery target was set at …

The Kingdom of Morocco had been seriously affected by trachoma for a very long time. Their first statistics indicated that in the regions of Errachidia, Ouarzazate, Tata and Goulmima, the …

“To eliminate a disease, the critical step is knowing where it is – otherwise you are just shooting in the dark” Anthony Solomon, Medical Officer for Trachoma, WHO. Colleagues in …

The strategic drivers to eliminate trachoma at the local level are based on data. Data is used to: Know where, and how big, the problem is. Develop an appropriate Trachoma …

Elimination of trachoma as a public health problem is defined as: A prevalence of trachomatous trichiasis (TT) ‘unknown to the health system’ of < 0.2% in adults aged 15 years …

Deciding whether to start SAFE interventions Baseline surveys must be undertaken before any SAFE interventions are started. Population-based surveys should be undertaken using methods recommended by the World Health Organization …

Monitoring is the ongoing analysis of the progress of a programme using a pre-planned system. A monitoring framework should always be set up when a programme is planned. The monitoring …

The process of developing context-specific indicators relies on the intervention inventory that partners develop during the planning workshop with stakeholders. Indicators should be relevant for the local activities/interventions. Each intervention …

When you want to start a journey, the first step is to analyse the situation: Where you want to go – why you need to make the journey? Who is …

Interventions for face washing and environmental improvements often require expertise beyond the reach of health programmes. A wide range of stakeholders and partnerships are needed to implement sustainable solutions. In …

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on 25th September 2015 for ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) were agreed. And 9 …