The Trachoma Expert Committee commends Zanzibar on successfully attaining the elimination thresholds for trachoma
Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania – The Trachoma Expert Committee members, the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) staff members, Pfizer representatives, WHO, ministry of health representatives, donors and trachoma stakeholders convened the 30th TEC meeting from 14 to 16 November 2023 in Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania. This important event was officially opened by the Honorable Minister of Health of Zanzibar, His Excellency Nassor Ahmed Mazrui, who reiterated that the power of collaboration and political commitment of the government are key factors for reaching the elimination thresholds for trachoma elimination in Zanzibar.
Trachoma, the world's leading infectious cause of blindness, disproportionately affects the African Region, which carries 86% of the global burden. It still remains a public health problem in several African countries, where an estimated 100 million people live in areas at risk of infection. The WHO-recommended strategy to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem is known as the SAFE strategy. SAFE is an acronym that stands for Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial Cleanliness, and Environmental Improvement. Trachoma is one of the five PC-NTDs amenable to preventive chemotherapy. The medicine required for MDA for trachoma is donated by Pfizer through the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI).
The TEC is an independent body of internationally recognized trachoma experts that meets twice annually to review country applications for donations of Zithromax® for trachoma mass drug administration (MDA). TEC members provide advice to ITI on strategic, technical, and operational issues. Discussion topics at this meeting included the Zithromax MDA transition planning and closeout assessments, updates on the use of azithromycin for child survival research, evolution and outcomes of multinational cross-border trachoma meetings, experience in providing trachoma control services to refugee populations and reaching special populations, the use of complementary indicators in trachoma programme decision making as well as alternative approaches to trachoma programme monitoring and implementation including sentinel site monitoring of annual vs. biannual MDA using infection and serological markers as well as the use of model-based geo-statistics.
WHO was represented by the ESPEN trachoma expert Dr Amir B. Kello who provided inputs during the discussions representing the WHO perspective to ensure alignment with the current WHO trachoma elimination guidelines as well as the 2030 NTD Road Map.