Some recent news from our partners at the eye clinic at Embangweni: a team of visiting clinicians organised screening and treatment for trachoma, an infection of the eye, with the staff at Embangweni eye clinic working alongside them. Screening identified 29 people who required surgery for trichiasis, a condition caused by trachoma. Surgery was was carried out the following day.
Trachoma is the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness of infectious origin, it spreads in areas where access to clean water is limited. If untreated it causes scarring to the eyelids, which is painful and causes permanent damage to the surface of the eye.