When The Task Force’s International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) began in 1998, there were large knowledge gaps in the transmission and control of the disease. ITI knew that people were going blind from an ancient scourge; that simple public health interventions could prevent blindness from trachoma; and that it had a powerful tool at its disposal in the form of Zithromax®, the antibiotic donated by Pfizer to prevent and treat trachoma — but not much more.
Task Force Trachoma Program Celebrates 20 Years of Progress
Since then, significant inroads have been made to eliminate trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness. ITI has managed the donation of nearly 750 treatments to 40 countries and supported innovations that have helped it understand or determine where to work and who is at risk. The program has been an extraordinary success. Seven countries have eliminated trachoma so far and globally, the number of people at risk for trachoma has fallen by 60 percent.
ITI recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, and as part of a series of year-long celebration invited photo submissions from around the world with the theme of “Humans Against Trachoma.” The slideshow is a sampling of some of the photos submitted.
