For Immediate Release                 Media Contact: Geoffrey Knox: 212-229-0540
May 28, 2008                                                         gknox@geoffreyknox.com
                                      

MEDIA ADVISORY

INTERNATIONAL TRACHOMA INITIATIVE LAUNCHES NEW INFORMATION RESOURCES ON THE CAMPAIGN TO ELIMINATE BLINDING TRACHOMA

New Annual Report and Enhanced Website Provide Accessible, Accurate Information on Efforts to Eliminate the World’s Leading Cause of Preventable Blindness

                                                                       
WHAT:     The International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) has launched an updated user-friendly website to provide a central resource for information about the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness, blinding trachoma. Features of ITI’s enhanced website at http://www.trachoma.org include:   

• Source of information for progress reports on countries working to eliminate trachoma
• Repository of guides on management and coordination of trachoma control efforts
• Recognition of the implementing partners in trachoma control
• Media Center with up-to-date fact sheets, expert commentary, and news on trachoma in ITI-supported countries
• New photos and videos focusing on personal stories in countries where ITI works

Also available on the website is ITI’s recently released annual report, highlighting milestones towards meeting WHO’s GET 2020 goal of trachoma elimination.  It also showcases the impact ITI and its partners are having on the lives and futures of people across the globe. http://www.trachoma.org/about/annual_report.htm

WHO:     The International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) is the only global organization dedicated exclusively to the elimination of blinding trachoma. ITI works with governments, the private sector, international organizations, and NGOs to fight trachoma and the other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that restrict human development, especially in Africa.

The cornerstone of ITI’s work is the WHO’s SAFE strategy, which combines public health education, environmental improvements, sight-saving surgery and treatment with antibiotics donated to ITI by its founding partner, Pfizer. SAFE stands for Surgery, Antibiotics, Face-washing to reduce transmission, and Environmental improvements to improve hygiene.

WHY:     Blinding trachoma is a disease of poverty that affects 63 million people, mostly women and children, in 56 countries. Trachoma robs over $3 billion in wages and productivity a year from countries and people who are already poor.  While blinding trachoma can be prevented and cured with inexpensive, time-limited treatment, nearly 10 million people have already lost some or all of their sight to this infectious disease.

WHERE:  Building on trachoma elimination success in Morocco, ITI-supported trachoma control programs are underway in 15 countries highly impacted by blinding trachoma:

• 13 countries in Africa:  Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda
• 2 countries in Asia:  Nepal and Vietnam

ITI President Ibrahim Jabr is available for interviews. Contact Geoffrey Knox at 212-229-0540.