New Guide Will Help Countries Manage Zithromax |
 |
Cover photo of the Program Manager's Guide depicts a girl taking a dose of Zithromax in Ethiopia. (Photo: Mark Tuschman) |
ITI recently published a program manager's guide to help countries manage the hundreds of million of doses of Zithromax donated by Pfizer that will help treat and prevent blinding trachoma.
Zithromax in the Elimination of Blinding Trachoma: A Program Manager's Guide provides a clear description of best practices in Zithromax management, from the basics of how to make and use height-based dosing sticks to creating a drug delivery strategy and forming a community-directed distribution team. The guide also clarifies requirements of the annual application process and explains how to receive, store and track the distribution of donated Zithromax. A CD accompanies the guide, which includes forms and documents program managers will use to manage the supply of the antibiotic in their country.
“I am very happy to see this guidebook,” said B.B. Thapa, Program Director of the Nepal National Trachoma Program in Kathmandu, Nepal. “It helps us in organizing our daily work with tracking the shipment process, record keeping system, and reporting requirements. It will also be very helpful for the country program managers who are newly implementing trachoma control programs and the antibiotic component of the SAFE strategy.”
The guide was first distributed in April at the annual meeting of the WHO global partnership on trachoma—the Alliance for the Global Elimination of Blinding Trachoma by the Year 2020 (GET 2020). The guide is also available on CD and as a PDF on the ITI website. A French version is available as a PDF on the ITI website as well.
In his foreword to the guide, ITI Director Dr. Danny Haddad said “eliminating blinding trachoma by 2020 is possible. But our goal will only be reached through strong and effective collaborations. In that spirit, we offer this guide to all our partners and hope that they will find it useful in their important work.”