The Gambia becomes second African state to end trachoma
The Gambia has become the second country in Africa to eliminate trachoma, one of the leading causes of blindness.
The achievement, announced by the World Health Organization on Tuesday, came after decades of work on the disease, which has damaged the sight of about 1.9 million people worldwide. Ghana was the first country in Africa to eliminate the disease in 2018.
The Gambian government and aid organisations have spent years identifying and treating patients in rural areas, often going from door to door. It can cause a person’s eyelashes to turn inwards and scratch against the eyes, causing permanent damage.
Yaya Manney, 75, a community leader in the coastal village of Mariama Kunda, said treatment had transformed his life. “I was in pain for a long time because I didn’t know anywhere close to me where I could have surgery. It’s difficult to live with the misery of trachoma,” he said.
The symptoms start with itching and over the years it became so painful that Manney could no longer work, but he did not know there was a treatment for the condition until a health worker visited him.
“Since having surgery, I can work on the farm and participate in the community as an elder, like I used to. People say they are happy to see me back.”
He said infections had spread in the absence of treatment and “became a menace to our community”.
Infection is spread from person to person through hands, clothes or bedding, and by flies. According to the WHO, the disease often spreads widely within communities and is common among children.
Trachoma is one of the WHO’s 20 neglected tropical diseases, which
predominantly affect low-income countries and are historically underfunded in research for treatments.
Despite a decline in the number of people with the condition, from 1.5 billion to 135,000 over the past 20 years, it remains a problem in 44 countries.
Sightsavers, which supported the Gambia’s campaign against trachoma, said the success was the result of antibiotics, surgery, and improving sanitation. The charity’s director Balla Musa Joof said: “To know that elimination can be achieved through hard work, commitment and collaboration is important and acts as an encouragement to other countries to keep going with their own attempts.
He said the elimination of the illness meant “the government will be able to use resources previously spent on defeating trachoma on other public health problems”.