Malita Mbwilo, who suffers from trichiais, has her eyes checked by surgeon Julieth Tesha. © Robert Perry / Scotland on Sunday / Sightsavers

Sightsavers and trachoma

Together we can beat this disease

Although wiped out in much of the developed world in the last century, trachoma remains the leading cause of preventable blindness today. It is a cruel and painful disease which targets poor people already living in challenging conditions with a lack of clean water and sanitation. Often unable to work due to the suffering trachoma brings, along with failing eye sight, the poverty cycle deepens.

Women are particularly vulnerable to trachoma. As the main carers of children, whose dirty faces are often the culprit of transmission, their exposure to infection is greater, yet often they are last in line for heath care.

The scale of the problem
84 million people are infected with trachoma and a further 1.2 billion people at risk - that's 1 in 6 of the world's population. Nine million people are also waiting for eyelid surgery for the advanced stages of the disease

We need to act now to make an impact on the millions of people who have trachoma; targeting those infected will in turn bring down the numbers of people at risk.

 

Achievements

 

In 2010 we supported our partners to:

• Treat over 4.6 million people for trachoma, with antibiotics
• Carry out 18,295eyelid surgeries