MUYINGA May 10th (ABP) – The Ministry of Public Health and the Fight Against AIDS, in collaboration with its technical and financial partners, organized at the headquarters of Gasorwe commune in Muyinga province (north-east of Burundi) on Tuesday May 7, 2019, a day of social mobilization for the mass treatment campaign against reciting trachoma (an eye disease), a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
In his opening address, the Director General at the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, Dr. Isaac Minani, said that trachoma is the leading cause of blindness worldwide. “Burundi has followed other countries by organizing various activities such as mass investigations and treatments” to eradicate this disease which, if left untreated, leads to total blindness.
According to him, “the results of a trachoma prevalence survey conducted in July and August 2018 revealed that the Gahombo health district is endemic to trachoma”.
The recurring trachoma prevalence rate was 7.16% among children from one year to nine years old, he said. Based on these results, and in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, mass treatment should be organized to reduce infection and transmission of the disease.
For Dr. Minani, the four components of “luck” strategies must be implemented together to ensure the success of the control program. According to that health person in authority, the focus should also be on the wash component during eye health messages to be delivered during the campaign to stop transmission.
The mass treatment campaign with Zithromax and olphtamolgic ointment with tetracycline have to be carried out from May 9 to 12, in this health district that affects the Gashoho and Gasorwe communes, he announced. The overall goal of the campaign is to prevent avoidable blindness due to trachoma and eliminate it as a public health problem, he said.
Thus, during this campaign, 90% of the population of Gashoho Health District will be treated to reduce infection in the community and transmission of the disease.
Drug delivery is planned in basic schools, health centers and advanced sites, according to Dr. Minani.