By Ciara Baumgartner | Fundraising Officer
Wondimu is a Trachomatous Trichiasis (TT) case finders who go house-to-house to identify the cases in the project areas. These case finders are community volunteers selected with criteria developed by Orbis in consultation and discussion with local people and stakeholders. Once these community volunteers are selected, Orbis work with the local stakeholders to provide a one-day training on house-to-house TT case detection and referral using the ICTC (International Coalition for Trachoma Control) recommended training manual
While Wondimu was searching for patients with TT in the village, he found Askale, a 17 year old girl who dropped school for more than three years because of her eye problem. Her parents kept her in house during that period because they believed that the disease was punishment from the God for evilness. As her eye disease progressed, Askale couldn’t identify objects or persons from a distance of three meters.
Wondimu gave health information to her family about trachoma prevention and control and tried to screen Askale’s TT condition. He then educated the family about the importance of having surgery, personal hygiene, environmental sanitation and follow ups. He then gave her referral slip for to get surgical treatment in the nearby outreach sites.
On the day of surgery, the attending surgeon screened Askale and confirmed that she had TT on both eyes. After giving her counselling service about the surgery like the time it takes, the potential outcome, the post-surgery follow-ups and medication required, she underwent surgery with good outcome. She showed up two weeks afterwards for stitch removal and had no visible complications, and then went back for follow up three months later.
Like Wondimu, many trained community volunteers helped identify patients with similar eye condition, taking the house-to-house screening approach, and referred them to the nearby outreach sites or health facilities to receive in-depth screening, surgical treatment and follow-ups. And this approach is now being widely implemented across all Orbis-supported zones.
With your support we were not just able to train teachers and community volunteers, but to have a long-lasting impact on individuals and the community around them. Thank you very much for all your support!
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