Funding boost of $36.5m will help eliminate blinding disease in Africa- Sightsavers

By Palma Ileye

Plans to eliminate the blinding disease trachoma from 16 African countries, including Nigeria, have been boosted with $36.5m in new funding.

According to a press release issued by Communication Associate for Sightsavers Nigeria, Joy Tarbo, Twelve of the countries supported through the Accelerate programme, led by the non-profit Sightsavers, hope to eliminate trachoma by 2027 and three will make significant progress towards this goal in that time.

The statement explained that Trachoma begins as a bacterial infection, with symptoms similar to conjunctivitis. But repeated infections cause scarring that makes people’s eyelashes turn inwards and scrape painfully against the eye with every blink. Left untreated it can lead to sight loss and permanent blindness.

Country Director for Sightsavers Nigeria, Dr Joy Shu’aibu said: “Trachoma is a horrific disease which stops people from earning a living, growing food, cooking and caring for their families and going to school. People describe the pain as like having sand or thorns in their eyes.

“Through Accelerate, Sightsavers were able to support the government of Benin to eliminate trachoma in 2023 and this new funding will supercharge our support for 16 more countries, including Nigeria to finally end the scourge of trachoma.”

The International Development Organization said that the additional funds will extend the Accelerate programme, which began in 2018, as part of The Audacious Project, hosted by TED.

Noting that the new funding was from international donors which include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, The ELMA Foundation and, for Zambia, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust as well as Sightsavers own contribution.

Sightsavers said it has more than 70 years’ experience working with Governments in more than 30 countries to control and eliminate NTDs.

To date, they have supported ministries of health to deliver over 1.7 billion NTD treatments and worked with governments in Ghana, Gambia, Malawi, Benin and Mali to successfully eliminated trachoma as a public health problem.

The twelve countries targeted to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem by 2027 are: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Namibia, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Meanwhile Nigeria, Kenya and Mozambique will make significant progress towards elimination.

Adding that the fund will also contribute support to Ethiopia, which carries world’s highest burden of the disease in the world.