Trachoma wrecking havoc in Northen Regions

About 1.4 million people in the Northern and Upper West Regions are suffering from trachoma, an eye disease that can lead to blindness if unchecked.

The disease is spread through poor personal hygiene and poor environmental sanitation, among other causes.

Trachoma can be treated, however, with an antibiotic named ?Zithromax?, which is made and marketed by Pfizer, a New York?based Pharmaceutical company.

However, only about 300,000 of the 1.4 million sufferers, spread across 18 Districts in the Northern and Upper West Regions, have access to this drug.

This came to light yesterday during the opening session of a five-day workshop held to conduct strategic planning for a National Trachoma Control Programme.

In a speech read for him, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Agyeman Badu Akosa, said that approximately 20,000 people in Ghana who were severely afflicted with trachoma would need eyelid surgery to avoid going blind.