Context
According to the WHO, Ethiopia is one of the 56 countries with the highest prevalence of trachoma, an infectious conjunctivitis that can lead to blindness. Trachoma is also the second leading cause of blindness in the country. It is the Amhara region that suffers the most with a prevalence rate of 62.2% due to a lack of drinking water as well as precarious sanitary conditions. It is indeed facing a shortage of appropriate treatments and medicines.
Supported project
In 2019-2020, L'OCCITANE Italy and the L'OCCITANE Foundation supported CBM Italy in its trachoma elimination project in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. This project was based on the S.A.F.E strategy established by the WHO (Surgery - Antibiotics - Facial cleanliness - Environment) and was divided into 4 objectives: the distribution of antibiotics to treat the early stages of the disease, trichiasis operations (irritation of the cornea due to a deviation of the eyelashes), raising awareness of facial and body hygiene, and improving sanitary and hygienic conditions.
Some figures
Budget 20.000 euros
Goals 143.339 beneficiaries
Partnership history
Project supported since 2017
The Foundation L'OCCITANE and L'OCCITANE Italy has been supporting the CBM project to eliminate trachoma by 2020 in the districts of Sodo, Lanfuro and Dalocha in Ethiopia since 2017. The objective is to prevent the infection that causes blindness in the long term and to provide care services to those who are already infected with trachoma through the implementation of the S.A.F.E. strategy proposed by the WHO.
Testimonial
Ansha is a married mother. She contracted trachoma and the disease has already reached an advanced stage, trichiasis. She was on the path to becoming irreversibly blind and worried that she would not be able to look after her children and help her husband in the fields. Ansha, in spite of her fear of surgery, decided to join an awareness-raising campaign organistd by CBM in her village. There she was examined by the nurses and then immediately operated on in the health centre. Thanks to the intervention by CBM, Ansha is no longer at risk of becoming blind and can finally return to the activity that she loves the most, taking care of her children and her family.
Ansha, a beneficiary