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| Trachoma Matters: Fall 2008 |
EYES ON THE FUTURE: WORLD SIGHT DAY - October 9, 2008
The International Trachoma Initiative joins all the committed organizations, government agencies and community health workers combating blindness around the world in celebrating World Sight Day 2008 on Thursday, October 9. This important event focuses global attention on blindness and vision impairment.
Trachoma and the Elderly
The theme of this year’s World Sight Day, Eyes on the Future, focuses on the ageing eye and vision impairment in older people. The main blinding conditions affecting older people are cataract, refractive error, macular degeneration and glaucoma. However, the elderly are not immune from the affects of blinding trachoma. An elderly person who’s suffered from repeated trachoma infections earlier in life is highly susceptible to losing his or her sight: as time passes, damage from scarring results in the inward turning of the eyelashes, resulting in corneal scratching and blindness.
Among the key global messages for World Sight Day 2008 is that 75% of blindness is avoidable, and 90% of blind people live in low-income countries, where older people often face barriers to health care.
Trachoma, an NTD, is preventable and treatable. The success of the SAFE strategy for the elimination of blinding trachoma has already been seen in Morocco, and several countries are on track to eliminate trachoma by the year 2020.
How You Can Celebrate World Sight Day
- In celebration of World Sight Day, please visit the ITI website to watch a documentary on the success of the Ghana trachoma control program (http://www.trachoma.org/video/TRACHOMA.wmv). Ghana is on track to eliminate blinding trachoma by the year 2010, as originally planned and well ahead of the GET 2020 goal. In June, Ghana Health Services and its partners in trachoma control, including ITI, announced this news based on the positive results of the trachoma control program’s mid-term review.
- Also be sure to watch the BBC documentary on NTDs in Niger (see related story in this issue of Trachoma Matters).