In 2021, Orbis also performed more than 16,000 surgeries in cases where trachoma infections had progressed to trachomatous trichiasis, a painful condition in which scarring causes the eyelid to turn in on itself and the eyelashes to scratch the eye, ultimately leading to blindness. Orbis ultimately administered more than 12.3 million doses of the antibiotic Azithromycin in these regions, where the burden of trachoma remains particularly high. In December 2021, Orbis initiated a mass drug administration (MDA) across 102 districts in Ethiopia's Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR), Sidama, and the new Southwest Region. Trachoma is highly contagious, but it is easily treatable with antibiotics if it is caught early. Globally, an estimated 1.9 million people are blind or have vision impairment due to the disease. One of those NTDs, trachoma, is the world's leading infectious cause of blindness.
Most recently, Orbis administered nearly 9 million doses of trachoma-fighting antibiotics in just one month, part of the over 12 million total doses the organization distributed in 2021.Įach year, World NTD Day draws attention to the more than 1.7 billion people living with NTDs in some of the most marginalized communities around the globe. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Ahead of World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day, leading eye care nonprofit Orbis proudly celebrates 23 years of working to eliminate the blindness-causing infection trachoma in Ethiopia.
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