The Gambia has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem: Challenges and successes.
Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness in the world and has been known to be a major public health problem in The Gambia for over 60 years. Nationwide blindness surveys, including trachoma, in 1986 and 1996 provided the foundation for a comprehensive plan to implement a trachoma elimi...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d69accbff77a4483b9c0fe7d0ca1360a 2023-05-15T15:08:37+02:00 The Gambia has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem: Challenges and successes. Agatha Aboe Balla Musa Joof Sarjo Kebba Kanyi Abba Hydara Philip Downs Simon Bush Paul Courtright 2022-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010282 https://doaj.org/article/d69accbff77a4483b9c0fe7d0ca1360a EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010282 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0010282 https://doaj.org/article/d69accbff77a4483b9c0fe7d0ca1360a PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 16, Iss 3, p e0010282 (2022) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010282 2022-12-30T21:41:37Z Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness in the world and has been known to be a major public health problem in The Gambia for over 60 years. Nationwide blindness surveys, including trachoma, in 1986 and 1996 provided the foundation for a comprehensive plan to implement a trachoma elimination strategy. Impact and pre-validation surveillance surveys in 2011-13 demonstrated that active trachoma was below WHO threshold for elimination but trichiasis remained a public health problem. Trichiasis-only surveys in 2019 demonstrated that trichiasis was below WHO thresholds for elimination and in 2020 the Government of The Gambia completed and submitted its dossier for validation of elimination as a public health problem. Challenges that The Gambia faced on the pathway to elimination included effective use of data for decision making, poor trichiasis surgical outcomes, lack of access to antibiotic treatment for low prevalence districts, high attrition of ophthalmic nurses trained as trichiasis surgeons, unexpected active trachoma in madrassas, the misalignment of elimination of active trachoma and trichiasis, trichiasis in urban settings, and maintaining the quality of surgery post-elimination when trichiasis cases are rare. Elimination of trachoma does not end with the submission of an elimination dossier; The Gambia will need to sustain monitoring and support over the coming years. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 16 3 e0010282 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Agatha Aboe Balla Musa Joof Sarjo Kebba Kanyi Abba Hydara Philip Downs Simon Bush Paul Courtright The Gambia has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem: Challenges and successes. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness in the world and has been known to be a major public health problem in The Gambia for over 60 years. Nationwide blindness surveys, including trachoma, in 1986 and 1996 provided the foundation for a comprehensive plan to implement a trachoma elimination strategy. Impact and pre-validation surveillance surveys in 2011-13 demonstrated that active trachoma was below WHO threshold for elimination but trichiasis remained a public health problem. Trichiasis-only surveys in 2019 demonstrated that trichiasis was below WHO thresholds for elimination and in 2020 the Government of The Gambia completed and submitted its dossier for validation of elimination as a public health problem. Challenges that The Gambia faced on the pathway to elimination included effective use of data for decision making, poor trichiasis surgical outcomes, lack of access to antibiotic treatment for low prevalence districts, high attrition of ophthalmic nurses trained as trichiasis surgeons, unexpected active trachoma in madrassas, the misalignment of elimination of active trachoma and trichiasis, trichiasis in urban settings, and maintaining the quality of surgery post-elimination when trichiasis cases are rare. Elimination of trachoma does not end with the submission of an elimination dossier; The Gambia will need to sustain monitoring and support over the coming years. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Agatha Aboe Balla Musa Joof Sarjo Kebba Kanyi Abba Hydara Philip Downs Simon Bush Paul Courtright |
author_facet |
Agatha Aboe Balla Musa Joof Sarjo Kebba Kanyi Abba Hydara Philip Downs Simon Bush Paul Courtright |
author_sort |
Agatha Aboe |
title |
The Gambia has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem: Challenges and successes. |
title_short |
The Gambia has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem: Challenges and successes. |
title_full |
The Gambia has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem: Challenges and successes. |
title_fullStr |
The Gambia has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem: Challenges and successes. |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Gambia has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem: Challenges and successes. |
title_sort |
gambia has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem: challenges and successes. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010282 https://doaj.org/article/d69accbff77a4483b9c0fe7d0ca1360a |
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Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 16, Iss 3, p e0010282 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010282 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0010282 https://doaj.org/article/d69accbff77a4483b9c0fe7d0ca1360a |
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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010282 |
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PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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16 |
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3 |
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e0010282 |
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