What is Trachoma?
Trachoma is the world’s leading cause of infectious blindness and is responsible for the blindness or visual impairment of about 1.9 million people worldwide.
It is a contagious bacterial infection, caused by the bacterium 'Chlamydia Trachomatis'. It is completely preventable however with repeated infection, it can cause scarring inside the eyelids which causes the eyelashes to turn in, leading to painful scratching of the eye on every blink, which can then lead to irreversible blindness.
Trachoma spreads by personal contact (via hands, clothing, towels or bedding).
How did the Rotary Australia-wide 'EndTrachoma' project come about?
In late 2015, Rotary commenced discussions on Indigenous health issues with Professor Hugh Taylor AC (from Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne).
In April 2016, Lien Trinh , our then End Trachoma Project Manager, attended the World Health Organisation (WHO) ‘Global Elimination of Trachoma by 2020’ meeting on behalf of Rotary to meet with all the Australian Stakeholders to learn about Trachoma in Australia and to decide if we should become involved. (Lien studied for a Master’s of Public Health at the London School of Tropical Medicine as a Rotary Foundation Global Scholar in 2013/14 and is an optometrist and expert in public health.)
'Nourish Our Communities Ltd' was set up for the what was then called the 'EndTrachoma by 2020' project to enable DGR Status and a consistent Board of Directors and long term committee. Led by Rob McGuirk (Rotary Melbourne), this decision has resulted in a committed group of Rotarians remaining with the project since the start and a very successfully led project.
Recording 2017: Past Rotary International President Ian Riseley (2017-18)
endorsed the project during his year of leading Rotary worldwide.
Rotary’s 2017-18 International President, Australia’s Ian Riseley, wants a trachoma-free Australia by 2021, Rotary’s 100th year in Australia. We are the world's only developed country with trachoma, an infectious eye disease that can be prevented with good hygiene practices.
The World Health Organisation has a global goal to eliminate trachoma by 2020. Trachoma is an infectious eye disease that can be prevented with good hygiene practices. But it is still present in remote Aboriginal communities and can lead to permanent blindness.
The work of the Australian Government, the Fred Hollows Foundation and Indigenous Eye Health to treat trachoma infections has seen rates in affected communities reduced substantially. But now, we need to ensure that hygiene practices and the community environments are improved to completely eliminate the disease.
Prevention is the focus of EndTrachoma by 2020.
Back in 2018, we held a series of Zoom interviews each night for one week to hear from people working in the field of trachoma
trachomaLive
Meet our project team and some of the experts working with us to EndTrachoma by 2020, including Dr. Solomon from the World Health Organisation and RI President Ian Riseley.
Our videos were recorded live with some of the most inspiring, hard-working people in the field of trachoma, eye health and Indigenous health equity.