New website shows where NGOs support SAFE

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There’s a great new tool the trachoma control community can use as we move toward our goal of eliminating blinding trachoma by 2020.

Visit the new website at http://www.trachomacoalition.org and you’ll see where international development organizations are supporting national Ministries of Health to implement the SAFE strategy.  As many of you know, the WHO-endorsed SAFE strategy combines treatment (Surgery and Antibiotics) with prevention (Face-washing and Environmental change), such as increasing access to water and sanitation.

But we never knew exactly where in the 57 trachoma endemic countries SAFE activities were taking place and who was supporting that work.  Now we do. 

Hosted by the International Coalition for Trachoma Control (ICTC), the new website features information from a variety of experts, both individuals and organizations, making it a much needed hub and sharing point for all players in the trachoma community.

The ICTC website complements the Trachoma Atlas at www.trachomaatlas.org which has country maps with population-based prevalence data on trachoma. Both websites are open-access, and the maps are free.

What’s doubly exciting about these two new online tools is this fact:  not only can public health professionals and managers of trachoma-control programs use them in their work but the general public can also learn about this preventable blinding disease and spread the word about the growing movement to eliminate it by 2020 and end the suffering of millions of people worldwide.