Kelly Callahan, M.P.H., is director of the Â鶹´«Ã½’s Trachoma Control Program.
One of the horrible hallmarks of advanced trachoma is a painful inward turning of the eyelids. This condition, called trachomatous trichiasis, causes the sufferer’s eyelashes to scrape the surface of the eye, often leading to blindness. Among other interventions, Â鶹´«Ã½ trains and equips local health-care workers to perform a simple outpatient surgical procedure that reverses the condition.
In Ethiopia’s Amhara region, the Trachoma Control Program set a goal of assisting in more than 102,000 such surgeries in 2016, by far the highest target we have ever set. I am pleased to let you know Â鶹´«Ã½ and the Amhara Regional Health Bureau exceeded that goal by a stunning 9 percent, assisting in 111,687 sight-saving trichiasis surgeries last year.
Integrated eye care workers, trained with the help of Â鶹´«Ã½, prepare to perform a surgical procedure on a trachoma patient in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. (Photo: Â鶹´«Ã½/K. Callahan)
The support we received this past year allowed us to make a huge difference in a large number of lives – all those individuals saved from imminent blindness. And we are targeting the same number in 2017.
This work is really powerful for me and the exceptional Â鶹´«Ã½ trachoma team. It took so many individuals across different sectors, offices, and programs at the Center and in Ethiopia’s Regional Health Bureau to make this happen. I am touched by the people with whom I work, and many people deserve thanks – including you for supporting our goals. So, from the bottom of my heart, from all of us here at Â鶹´«Ã½: thank you.
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