This is Robert Cohen with the VOA Special English DevelopmentReport.
The drug company Pfizer says it will give enough medicine free ofcharge to treat about ninety percent of people with trachoma. Thiseye infection is the leading cause of preventable blindness. Anestimated one-hundred-fifty-million people have trachoma. Most livein developing nations.
Pfizer said from New York that itwill give away one-hundred-thirty-five-million treatments ofZithromax over the next five years. Pfizer invented this antibioticdrug and holds the patent rights until two-thousand-six. After that,other companies can make their own versions. One dose of Zithromax ayear can prevent a trachoma infection from progressing.
Pfizer’s new donation will help the World Health Organizationwith its goal to end trachoma by two-thousand-twenty. Joseph Cookheads the W-H-O’s International Trachoma Initiative. He says thesuccess over the past five years proves that the goal is withinreach.
Since nineteen-ninety-nine, Pfizer has given away eight-milliondoses of Zithromax to the W-H-O campaign. The nine countries alreadyin the program include Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Morocco and Nepal. Theother are Niger, Sudan, Tanzania and Vietnam. Initiative officialssay the effort will expand to at least ten more countries. TheWashington Post reported that Senegal and Mauritania are the next tobe added.
Antibiotics are not the onlymethod for dealing with trachoma. The World Health Organizationsupports a program known as the “SAFE Strategy.” “S” stands forsurgical operations, for the most severe cases. “A” stands forantibiotics, such as Zithromax. “F” stands for face washing, toreduce the spread of the disease. And “E” stands for environmentalchanges. These include the development of clean water supplies andbetter living conditions.
Trachoma begins as a bacterial infection inside the uppereyelids. Hands, clothes or insects that have touched fluid from theeyes or nose of an infected person can spread the disease. Childrenand women are at greatest risk — women, because they are oftenaround children.
Trachoma has blinded about six-million people. Blindness usuallyhappens during the most economically productive years of life. Youcan learn more on the Internet at trachoma-dot-o-r-g.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss. I’m Robert Cohen.