Kumaresan J
International Trachoma Initiative, New York, USA.
Eye (Lond). 2005 Oct;19(10):1067-73. doi: 10.1038/sj.eye.6701963.
Trachoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world today. Long ago eliminated in North America and Europe, the disease is almost unknown, and indeed forgotten, in the West. Nevertheless, it continues to wreak havoc in the poorest parts of Africa, Asia, and other areas throughout the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are currently 7.6 million people who are visually impaired due to trachoma, and 84 million people with active infections. In 1998, WHO passed a resolution calling for member states to take action to eliminate blinding trachoma by the year 2020. The scale of what must be accomplished in order to reach this goal is daunting. However, the work of the International Trachoma Initiative together with national governments as well as other organizations in applying the WHO-recommended SAFE strategy for trachoma control has produced critical successes in challenging settings. This paper gives a brief history and description of trachoma, explains treatment options and the SAFE strategy, and discusses successes from two trachoma control programmes as examples of how to move forward in eliminating this devastating disease.
沙眼是当今世界可预防失明的主要原因。在北美和欧洲，这种疾病早已被消灭，在西方几乎无人知晓，甚至已被遗忘。然而，它仍在非洲、亚洲最贫困地区以及世界其他地区肆虐。世界卫生组织（WHO）估计，目前有760万人因沙眼而视力受损，8400万人受到活动性感染。1998年，WHO通过了一项决议，呼吁成员国采取行动，到2020年消除致盲性沙眼。为实现这一目标必须完成的工作规模令人望而生畏。然而，国际沙眼倡议组织与各国政府以及其他组织共同努力，应用WHO推荐的控制沙眼的SAFE策略，在具有挑战性的环境中取得了重大成功。本文简要介绍了沙眼的历史和情况，解释了治疗方案和SAFE策略，并讨论了两个沙眼控制项目的成功案例，以此作为如何推进消除这种毁灭性疾病工作的范例。
