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.
BT - International Health DO - 10.1093/inthealth/ihad089 IS - Supplement_2 LA - Eng M3 - Commentary N2 -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.
PB - Oxford University Press (OUP) PY - 2023 SP - ii68 EP - ii72 T2 - International Health TI - ‘Follow the cattle’: a joint cross-border trachoma MDA perspective UR - https://academic.oup.com/inthealth/article-pdf/15/Supplement_2/ii68/53979137/ihad089.pdf VL - 15 SN - 1876-3413, 1876-3405 ER -