Trachoma action planning.

Effective and efficient planning for trachoma elimination is the critical first step. Planning brings together the right people, with the right information, at the right time to ensure that trachoma elimination is based upon sound evidence and consideration of the local context. As all endemic countries are dealing with a dynamic situation planning must be similarly dynamic. Trachoma Action Planning (TAPs) started in 2011 after a call for development of a template for trachoma elimination planning at the 2010 meeting of the Alliance for GET2020. The TAP process starts with clarification of the goal: achievement of trachoma elimination, then works back from there to identify the activities needed to reach elimination. Thus, TAPs focus on setting aggressive but realistic targets and determining the steps required to make them possible.