An eye for inequality: how trachoma relates to poverty in Tanzania and Vietnam.

Purpose: An important challenge for trachoma control strategies is to break the circle of poverty, poor hygiene and poor health by bringing its benefits to the poor. This article aims to assess to what extent trachoma is a disease of the poor, and trachoma services reach the poor in Tanzania and Vietnam.

Methods: Individual level data on trachoma prevalence (active trachoma and trichiasis) and utilization of trachoma-related services were collected in both countries in 2004.

Gender equity and trichiasis surgery in the Vietnam and Tanzania national trachoma control programmes.

Aims: To calculate the gender distribution of trichiasis cases in trachoma communities in Vietnam and Tanzania, and the gender distribution of surgical cases, to determine if women are using surgical services proportional to their needs.

Methods: Population based data from surveys done in Tanzania and Vietnam as part of the national trachoma control programmes were used to determine the rate of trichiasis by gender in the population. Surgical records provided data on the gender ratio of surgical cases.

Integration of trachoma control into primary health care: the Tanzanian experience.

Tanzania was among the first countries to launch a trachoma control program with support from the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) using surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness, and environmental improvement (SAFE) strategy with azithromycin. More than one million children less than 10 years of age in Tanzania have active disease and an estimated 54,000 people have trichiasis. Since 2000, Tanzania has implemented major health sector reform that have been carried out in three phases in 114 districts.