The Task Force will lead an official panel discussion at the 2017 SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, TX, about its approach to eliminating trachoma, a neglected tropical disease that threatens 200 million people in developing countries. The panel, titled “How to End a Plague: Smartphones, Science, & Partnerships,” will feature Task Force experts and a representative from a country affected by trachoma who will discuss how smartphone technology is being used to eliminate the disease globally by 2020.

When:  March 11, 2017, 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Where: SXSW Interactive Festival, Austin Convention Center, Room 9C

Panel Description: Smallpox is the only disease that has ever been eradicated. But thanks to advances in science and technology, the world is now on the cusp of eliminating several debilitating diseases that affect the world’s poor. These diseases include trachoma that currently threatens 186 million people in 51 developing countries with blindness. During this panel discussion, experts who have dedicated their careers to ending trachoma will explain how smartphones have been a critical weapon in the fight against the disease. And with a trachoma-free world possible by 2020, the panel will offer their insights about how technology could be used to eliminate other diseases affecting the world’s poor.

To learn more about the panel discussion, visit http://schedule.sxsw.com/2017/events/PP61321.