SULTANATE CERTIFIED FREE OF TRACHOMA
MUSCAT: The Sultanate received validation certificate on elimination of trachoma on Tuesday. The certificate is presented by the Eastern Mediterranean Region Trachoma Alliance in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).
The certificate was received by Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Saeedi, Minister of Health, during the sixth anniversary of eradication of trachoma in the Sultanate on Tuesday in a ceremony in Muscat in the presence of Dr Akjimal Makhtimova, Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Sultanate. In 2012, the WHO declared Oman as the first country to be free of trachoma, an eye disease.
The minister of health said Sultanate became free of trachoma due to the programmed intervention and the strategies set by the Sultanate’s health ministry.
Dr Said al Lamki, Director-general of Primary Healthcare, said, “A number of research studies revealed the prevalence of the disease in Oman. In a survey conducted in 2009, entropion was found to be present in 1 in 1,000 of the population. While in 2017, the prevalence of trachoma amongst children less than 10 years of age was 0.04 per cent.”
Dr Al Lamki pointed out that WHO’S SAFE strategy, which was implemented in Oman as well as the rest of the world, helped to control trachoma.
S in SAFE stands for surgery for the lid complication of trachoma; A for antibiotic treatment; F facial cleanliness; and E environmental improvement.
He added that trachoma has also been included under those epidemiological diseases requiring surveillance and cases are notified and treated immediately. He also stressed that with the improvements in technology, an e-notification system of the Department of Communicable Disease in the Directorate-general of Diseases Control, which monitors the spread of diseases and controls, was activated.
The director-general of primary healthcare pointed out that both the governmental and non-governmental authorities in Oman had vital and prominent roles in reducing the prevalence of this disease. People in the community played an active and fruitful role in achieving this.
The Sultanate has made significant strides in eliminating the causes of trachoma disease according to the WHO’S standards. The “Trachoma Control Programme” was one of the main pillars of the Ministry of Health, which began in 1982.