End Trachoma

End Trachoma
Apr 17, 2018
Dr Murray Verso
End Trachoma
Past District Governor Dr Murray Verso is providing his medical knowledge and experience to assist a Rotary not-for-profit group called End Trachoma.
 
Trachoma is an infectious eye disease that can be prevented with good hygiene practices. It is still present in remote Aboriginal communities and can lead to permanent blindness. Australia is the world’s only developed country with trachoma. The World Health Organisation has a global goal to eliminate trachoma by 2020.
 
With surgery and antibiotics, trachoma rates in affected communities have been reduced substantially.
 
Thanks to groups like End Trachoma the original 200 ‘hot-spots’ have dwindled to around 50, mainly in central Australia. More work is still required to ensure that hygiene practices and the community environments are improved to completely eliminate the disease. Prevention is now the focus.