Vision 2020 - World Health Organization

VISION 2020 GLOBAL INITIATIVE FOR THE ELIMINATION OF AVOIDABLE BLINDNESS: ACTION PLAN 2006–2011
TRACHOMA
2.2 DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
• Countries should endeavour to increase coverage of all the components of the SAFE strategy
to the highest possible level.
• In countries in which active trachoma prevalence has declined to < 5%, rapid assessment
might be the most useful tool for identifying communities that need trachoma control activities
as a priority in order to eliminate remaining pockets of the disease.
• Countries should institute an ongoing audit of the quality of trichiasis surgery on the basis of
the WHO guidelines for assessment (32).
• Increased intersectoral collaboration should be instituted at national and district levels to ensure
comprehensive implementation of all components of the SAFE strategy.
• WHO and the international development community should advocate and promote trachoma
as a marker of poverty and GET 2020 as a model of a public–private partnership for tackling
the problem.
Target
• By 2020, all 49 countries where endemic trachoma has been confi rmed should have achieved
their ultimate intervention goals. The countries with plans for achieving those goals are shown in
Table 3.
Table 3. Numbers of the 49 countries where endemic trachoma has been confi
rmed that have or intend to develop plans for achieving their ultimate intervention
goals, as agreed by GET 2020
Year
Eastern
Mediterranean
African
WHO Region
South-East Asian and
Western Pacific
1995 0 0 0 0
2000 5 10 3 1
2010 7 20 5 2
2020 10 30 7 2
Americas
Indicators
• number of countries with blinding trachoma as a public health problem;
• proportion of endemic communities covered by the SAFE strategy;
• recommended, where applicable:
• prevalence of trachomatous entropion trichiasis at district level;
• prevalence of active trachoma in 1–9-year-olds at district level; and
• progress in achieving the ultimate intervention goals.
National data are being used to refi ne ultimate intervention goals and annual intervention objectives
in countries. The data are included in WHO information on neglected tropical diseases, in the WHO
Global Health Atlas and in the WHO Infobase.
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