Trachoma is an infection which causes blindness. It occurs
predominantly in dry dusty developing areas where living conditions are crowded
and hygiene practices are poor. Trachoma or “Sandy Blight” as it is also known
as, disappeared from mainstream Australia 100 years ago. In fact it has been
all but wiped out around the world.
In the 1970's, Australia officially became the only
developed nation to have this blinding disease among its Indigenous peoples.
You may have heard of Fred Hollows who formed the National Trachoma and Eye
Health Program (NTEHP) in an attempt to eliminate trachoma from remote
Indigenous Australia. This program gathered hundreds of eye doctors, surgeons
and health workers, and from 1976 to 1978, covered over 84,000 kms, visited 465
communities and screened more than 62,000 Aboriginal people across Australia.
(*)
Though the NTEHP significantly reduced levels of trachoma,
the problem was left in the hands of local clinics to monitor and treat.
Overburdened with primary health concerns, the local clinics struggled to
contain the disease, and with the death of Fred Hollows in 1993, the prevalence
of trachoma increased back to its original level.
These days trachoma is responsible for 9% of blindness in
Indigenous Australian Adults. Although Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander
children start life with much better vision than the average Australian,
Indigenous people over the age of 40 have six times more blindness than other
Australians.($)
Fortunately one man has made it his mission to eradicate the
disease in this country once and for all. Professor Hugh Taylor AC, eminent ophthalmologist
and founder of Centre for Eye Research Australia, leads the Indigenous Eye
Health Unit at the University of Melbourne. How do I know about Hugh? Hugh once
operated on my dad in one of the first Lasik surgeries performed in Australia. Since
then he has become a close family friend.
Why should you care? As
an Australian, I am ashamed that we are the only developed country where
trachoma still exists. Especially because Trachoma is entirely preventable!
How is trachoma
treated? A single dose of an antibiotic, azithromycin, can be all that is
needed. Best practice includes treatment of all members of the household in
which a case resides. (#) The World Health Organization advocates the
implementation of the SAFE strategy
because, I suppose, they like acronyms. (Why doctors are expected to remember
drug names but need anaconyms for simple things is beyond me....)
SAFE stands
for:
Surgery – to
correct triciasis
Antibiotic
treatment – a dose of azithromycin administer orally
Facial
cleanliness – a tissue to wipe up a grubby face
Environmental
Improvements – clearing up rubbish and washing blankets and pillows etc.
Who are Yamba and
Milpa?
Milpa the Trachoma Goanna with Yamba the Honey Ant support
the fight against trachoma by promoting the message “clean faces, strong eyes!”
on Imparja TV and CAAMA radio. Apparently Milpa is in big demand in remote
communities.
So yes, action is being taken to eliminate this terrible
disease. And you can also take action, by donating to the Indigenous Eye Health
Unit (Melbourne University) and the Fred Hollows Foundation. But the broader
and more troublesome issue is the appalling living conditions in the majority
of Indigenous communities. In some communities, trachoma is only one of the many
daily worries which include sexual abuse, alcoholism and domestic violence.
I applaud people like Hugh who have identified a problem,
and are hell bent on solving it. But what are we to do about the living
conditions that perpetuate such inequality in life expectancy between
indigenous and non-indigenous Australians? I certainly don’t have the answer.
Perhaps the only way to tackle something so complicated is to follow Hugh’s
approach: slowly yet determined, helping one person at a time.
(*) http://www.documentaryaustralia.com.au/films/details/760/turning-a-blind-eye-documentary-on-trachoma
($)The Road Map to Close the Gap for Vision, Indigenous Eye
Health Unit, The University of Melbourne, 2012
(#) Australian Trachoma Surveillance Report, Australian
Government Department of Health and Ageing, 2010
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