Eliminating Trachoma with the Help of GIS Technology

Trachoma is the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness, yet for decades we have had the antibiotics to treat it. Sightsavers is an international charity dedicated to preventing avoidable blindness and is working in Africa and Asia to eliminate this disease. Their programs are having a significant positive impact. A key to their success is effective use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to track and manage both the disease and treatment coverage.
We sat down with Andy Tate, Senior Data and Reporting Advisor for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) at Sightsavers to learn more about their work and how they are leveraging GIS technology from Esri.
Trachoma
Trachoma is a NTD of significant concern and is one of the world’s oldest diseases.
“Trachoma is caused by repeated bacterial infections,” explained Tate. “Over time it will cause scarring to the inner eyelids such that the eyelashes will turn inwards and scrape the eyeball. This will cause irreversible blindness, if not treated.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), trachoma is “hyperendemic in many of the poorest and most rural areas of Africa, Central and South America, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East”. The WHO estimates that trachoma causes 1.4% of all blindness worldwide.
Eliminating Trachoma
In 1993, the WHO adopted an effective strategy to control and eliminate trachoma, called SAFE:

Surgery to treat the blinding stage (trachomatous trichiasis);
Antibiotics to clea...

Source: EMR and HIPAA - October 20, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Colin Hung Tags: Health IT Company Healthcare IT IT Infrastructure and Dev Ops Andy Tate ArcGIS esri Esri Quick Capture GIS technology Health GIS Healthcare GIS Healthcare Scene Featured Kenya neglected tropical diseases NTD Sightsavers Trach Source Type: blogs