Government launches campaign to eradicate trachoma

State minister for Health in charge of General Duties Elioda Tumwesigye (C) launches the Trachoma Action Plan Handbook in Jinja District on Tuesday. Looking on is the CEO of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, Dr Astrid Bonfield (R). PHOTO BY moses okeya

What you need to know:

The campaign will target 17 districts from Busoga and Karamoja regions.

Jinja- The Ministry of Health in partnership with Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, has launched a five-year campaign aimed at eradicating trachoma in the country.

Trachoma is one of the 13 neglected tropical diseases transmitted through house flies and mechanical means such as dirty clothes and hands.

The disease slowly robs people of sight as repeated infections turn eyelashes inward, scraping the cornea and eventually causes irreversible blindness.

The campaign was launched by the State Minister for Health in charge of General Duties, Dr Elioda Tumwesigye in Buwenge Town, Jinja District on Tuesday.

The national coordinator of neglected tropical diseases in the Ministry of Health, Dr Edridah Tukahebwa, told the gathering that the initiative is targeting 17 districts in Busoga and Karamoja regions. “The target is 17 districts, 10 from Busoga and seven from Karamoja where 38,834, whose blinding trachoma is in advanced stages known as trichiasis, will have undergone corrective surgery by 2019,” Dr Tukahebwa said.

He hailed Jubilee Trust for its aid, saying Uganda was committed to the global initiative of eradicating trachoma by 2020.