ITI Research

Research is at the core of the International Trachoma Initiatives program strategy. Indeed, our primary activities are based on earlier research supported by our founders Ethe Edna McConnell Clark Foundation and Pfizer Inc Eto develop the SAFE strategy and assess the efficacy of Zithromax in trachoma control. Today, ITIs work is shaped by its involvement in advancing the World Health Organizations GET2020 goal of eliminating blinding trachoma worldwide by the year 2020.

For trachoma control programs to be effective, there is a need for medical research that enhances knowledge about the disease itself, and for applied research that focuses on aspects of program activities. ITI acts as a catalyst for research on trachoma by fostering dialogue to identify key research questions and initiating research projects to address obstacles for trachoma control programs. ITI is a central interlocutor in discussions about the disease and its treatment, and is an enthusiastic promoter of research related to trachoma and ways to improve the effectiveness of trachoma control programs. In addition to addressing global trachoma research, ITI works with Ministries of Health in the countries that it supports to identify and address specific research questions that will enable trachoma control activities to move forward.

In April 2004, ITI co-sponsored a Joint Research Agenda meeting with the World Health Organization in Geneva. The meeting brought together preeminent trachomatologists as well as national program managers in order to reach consensus on the existing priority areas for trachoma research. Click here for a pdf of the meeting report from the WHO.

ITI partners with researchers and academic institutions to identify and investigate research issues that will speed the elimination of blinding trachoma. Please click here for a list of articles that describe important research about trachoma that was supported by ITI.

In addition, the WHO has published several booklets for trachoma control program managers with more information about specific program activities. Please visit our resources section and click on the cover of the booklet that interests you to download a copy, courtesy of the WHO.