18th meeting of the GET2020 Alliance takes place in Addis Ababa.

The 18th meeting of the WHO Alliance for Global Elimination of Trachoma by 2020, GET2020, was held on 28–30 April 2014 at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa, in the presence of Dr Kesetebirhan Admasu, Honorable Minister of Health of Ethiopia, Dr Pierre M’pele-Kilabou, WHO Representative in Ethiopia, and Dr Dirk Engels, Director of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases at WHO Headquarters. The 18th GET2020 meeting brought together more than 200 Alliance members comprising WHO, global, regional and national partners, national governments, nongovernmental organizations, research institutions, foundations, regional partners and the pharmaceutical industry, making this the largest ever gathering of the Alliance.  

Dr Kesetebirhan Admasu confirmed the Government’s and his personal commitment to trachoma elimination, and said, “Ethiopia will be trachoma free in the next five years as the country is on the right track to control, eliminate and eradicate Neglected Tropical Diseases, including trachoma,” further adding that the conducive health policy and the community-centered health extension program will be instrumental in this.

Dr Pierre M’pele-Kilebou acknowledged the strides Ethiopia has made towards trachoma elimination, and affirmed WHO’s commitment to work with the Government to meet the 2020 target.

Dr Engels stressed, “WHO is committed to helping national governments ensure the full implementation of SAFE,” noting, “Trachoma has an opportunity to be a trendsetter for other neglected tropical diseases.”  

One of the major causes of preventable blindness, trachoma is an infectious disease endemic in 55 countries and responsible for the visual impairment of about 2.2 million people, of whom 1.2 million are irreversibly blind. Trachoma affects the poorest people living in the most remote rural areas.  

Launched under WHO’s leadership in 1997, the Alliance is a partnership formed to support country implementation of the WHO-developed SAFE Strategy – employing Surgery for in-turned eye lashes (medically known as trichiasis), Antibiotics, Facial cleanliness and Environmental improvement. These interventions are community-targeted and seek community involvement through the primary health care approach. Since the launch of GET2020, major progress has been made in trachoma control, with a number of countries having already attained national elimination of the disease as a public health problem.
 
National trachoma mapping exercise
A national trachoma mapping exercise undertaken in 2014 in all the regions of Ethiopia has recently been completed and the results will be disseminated by the Federal Ministry of Health soon. The map will be useful in designing future interventions to speed up implementation of preventive and corrective measures towards achieving the GET2020.    

WHO interactive graph of the status of endemicity for blinding trachoma (requires Flash player).


For more information, please contact Dr Abate Mulugeta Beshah, Neglected Tropical Diseases Programme Coordinator, WHO Ethiopia; email: abatem [at] who.int (abatem[at]who[dot]int) 
 

PHOTOS: WHO Ethiopia/ Loza Mesfin Tesfaye & Julie Pudlowski