01596nas a2200217   4500000000100000008004100001260003400042653005700076653002100133653002800154100001500182700001100197700001400208700001300222245007500235856009300310300001400403490000700417520092900424022002501353       2023                            d  bOxford University Press (OUP)10aPublic Health, Environmental and Occupational Health10aGeneral Medicine10aHealth (social science)1 aBaayenda G1 aOpon R1 aWaititu T1 aKabona G00a‘Follow the cattle’: a joint cross-border trachoma MDA perspective  uhttps://academic.oup.com/inthealth/article-pdf/15/Supplement_2/ii68/53979137/ihad089.pdf  aii68-ii720 v153 a<p>Trachoma, a disease caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, is the leading infectious cause of blindness. To fight it, endemic East African countries adopted the World Health Organization’s SAFE Strategy, targeting surgery, antibiotics through mass drug administration (MDA), facial cleanliness and environmental improvement. Trachoma persists among nomadic communities along the Kenya–Uganda and Kenya–Tanzania borders. To address this, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda launched synchronized MDA campaigns, simultaneously treating populations across borders. Successes included joint planning, community involvement and intergovernmental cooperation, although challenges remained in resourcing MDA cross-border focal points and in addressing coverage and funding. Novel strategies like synchronized joint cross-border MDA with community engagement are vital for sustainable trachoma elimination in these nomadic settings.</p>
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