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Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
THE Ministry of Health and Child Care has embarked on a mass drug administration programme in Gweru district after the district was identified as an endemic centre for tropical diseases such as blinding trachoma.

Other diseases that are targeted in the mass drug administration programme include bilharzia and intestinal worms.

Midlands Provincial Medical Director Dr Mary Muchekeza confirmed the mass drug administration programme taking place in both urban and rural Gweru district.

Trachoma is a disease of the eye caused by infection with the bacterium chlamydia trachomatis.

It is a public health problem in 44 countries and is responsible for the blindness or visual impairment of about 1.9 million people.

Blindness from trachoma is irreversible.

“As the Ministry of Health and Child Care we have embarked on a mass drug administration programme in Gweru district for various neglected tropical diseases to include diseases like bilharzia, intestinal worms, and blinding trachoma,” she said.

Dr Muchekeza said over the past few years the Ministry of Health and Child Care embarked on a trachoma mapping exercise across the whole country to find out areas in which blinding trachoma is endemic.

“For Midlands province one of the districts that was identified as having trachoma related blindness and endemicity was Gweru district. So we are currently running a mass drug administration programme in Gweru district giving medicine that is meant to counter trachoma related blindness. The programme started on 11 July,” she said.

Dr Muchekeza said the ministry has been making awareness campaigns to inform the population about the programme.

“The population in Gweru district needs to be alerted that we are giving our medicines aimed at countering trachoma,” she said.

Dr Muchekeza said the medicines can be found at all the health centres and schools in the district adding that everyone was eligible to receive the medicines.

“So we are administering at all our health facilities in Gweru district, at all our schools in Gweru district and at selected health centres in the district. The target population is people of all ages. so the entire population of Gweru district that is rural and urban is eligible to receive the medicine.

“So we are encouraging the whole population to approach their nearest health centres to be administered the medicine. We are reaching out at all health facilities and schools. If the people see sites where our nurses will be embarking on this programme, they should not hesitate as this is for their own good. We urge parents and guardians to approve so that their children get the medicines at schools,” she said.

Transmission of trachoma occurs through contact with infective discharges from the eyes and nose, particularly in young children who harbour the main reservoir of infection.

It is also spread by flies which have been in contact with the eyes and noses of infected people.

The immune system can clear a single episode of infection, but in endemic communities the organism is frequently reacquired.

After years of repeated infection, the inside of the eyelid can become so severely scarred (trachomatous conjunctival scarring) that it turns inwards and causes the eyelashes to rub against the eyeball (trachomatous trichiasis), resulting in constant pain and light intolerance.

This and other alterations of the eye can lead to scarring of the cornea.

Left untreated, this condition leads to the formation of irreversible opacities, with resulting visual impairment or blindness.