Tra­choma is an infec­tion of the upper inner lin­ing of the eye­lid, caused by the bac­te­ria chlamy­dia tra­choma­tis. Acute infec­tions occur more com­mon­ly in young chil­dren, and repeat­ed untreat­ed infec­tions in child­hood can lead to blind­ness in old­er adults.

Per­son-to-per­son con­tact, flies and shar­ing tow­els can all spread tra­choma. Risk fac­tors for con­tract­ing tra­choma include:

• inad­e­quate housing
• over­crowd­ing
• poor hygiene
• dusty con­di­tions.

Our Tra­choma Elim­i­na­tion Pro­gram aims to elim­i­nate blind­ness caused by tra­choma. We are work­ing to reduc­e cas­es of active tra­choma in chil­dren to less than 5% of the pop­u­la­tion by rais­ing aware­ness of facial clean­li­ness. We are also aim­ing to reduce the cas­es of untreat­ed trichi­a­sis to less than 1 per 1000 people.