Habari — Liz Pavlovich: Going Blind “Quietly”

A disease that renders a person blind by the age of 30 or 40 typically begins its vanquish during childhood; the disease’s slow progression purports the nickname the “quiet disease.” In Tanzania, it is estimated that Trachoma has blinded nearly 50,000 people. Another two million adults have active cases of the neglected tropical disease that could result in the loss of sight if untreated.

As you can imagine, blindness makes a person feel helpless. A blind person is dependent on his family or others for food, shelter, water, and other necessities because he cannot work. This often leaves the person isolated and stigmatized.

The disease is categorized by slow disintegration of parts of the eye, mainly the cornea and conjunctiva, as a result of repeated infections and scar tissue build up. As the disease progresses, the eyelid will turn inwards (trichiasis) causing extreme discomfort. Loss of vision will become permanent shortly thereafter if surgical measures are not taken.

The disease is highly contagious and bacteria from the eye are transferred by hands, on clothing and through flies that land on people’s faces. The disease is particularly prevalent in places where people are not able to wash their hands and faces regularly in order to remove the infectious bacteria. It predominantly affects rural communities in poor countries because people live in close proximity to their livestock, which attract flies that can easily transmit the infection from one person to another.

The World Health Organization and organizations such as the International Trachoma Initiative have devised a strategy called “SAFE” to prevent, control and eradicate trachoma in the 55 affected countries. SAFE is an acronym that stands for:

S = Surgery- to correct advanced stages of the disease.

A = Antibiotics- to treat active infection by a single dose of Zithromax & tetracycline.

F = Face washing- to prevent disease transmission.

E = Environmental change- to increase access to clean water and improve sanitation.

With the SAFE strategy and the growing accessibility of health care workers in Tanzania, I hope that the population’s health knowledge will increase so that simple health-supporting behaviors are adopted, such as the consistent washing of children’s faces, and sight saving treatment and care from trained professionals. Working with the administration at Bugando university, a medical school in Tanzania, I am encouraged by the students training to become doctors, nurses and pharmacists who are dedicated to preventing and treating diseases like Trachoma.

Habari – News From Bugando – is a periodic blog posting by Liz Pavlovich, a Program Officer for the Touch Foundation based in Mwanza Tanzania. Since 2004, the Touch Foundation (touchfoundation.org) has been working with Tanzanian partners to address the healthcare worker shortage by expanding the Bugando regional medical training college and teaching hospital. Bugando’s University is the second largest of five institutions training medical doctors in the country. It also trains health workers in seven other disciplines – post-graduate MDs, nurses, assistant medical officers, radiographers, pharmacists and laboratory technologists. The school is now training 900 students.

Caption: In rural Tanzania, most people keep livestock very close to their homes. The animals attract flies and carry worms that can cause diseases such as Trachoma, in humans.