Trachoma Mali 2009

Trachoma is a public health problem in our country. Worldwide, this disease is the 2nd leading cause of blindness after cataracts. In Mali, there are more than 150,000 blind people, many of whom are victims of trachoma and its aftereffects. The significant efforts deployed by the Malian public authorities in the fight against this scourge have led to a marked reduction in the disease. From 1999 to 2007, Mali recorded more than 31,942 trichiasis surgical interventions. In 2008, these operations benefited 3,500 people, but 60,000 others are waiting for surgical intervention. To support Mali’s efforts in this fight and accelerate the elimination of trachoma, the Bouamatou Foundation has just committed itself to work alongside Mali. The project launch ceremony took place on Tuesday in the courtyard of the National Food Security Agency. It brought together, around the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Lanceni Konaté, the President of the Bouamatou Foundation, Mohamed Ould Bouamatou, and his wife, the President of the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI), Ibrahim Jabr. Also present were the Governor of the District of Bamako, Ibrahim Féfé Koné, and his counterpart from Ségou, Abou Sow, the representative of WHO in our country, representatives of international and intergovernmental organizations involved in the fight against blindness. Since 2003, the Bouamatou Foundation has partnered with the Mauritanian government to eradicate trachoma. The success of the campaigns against trachoma led throughout Mauritania has led the foundation to extend its activities to Mali since 2005 with support of 200,000 dollars, i.e., over 90 million FCFA. The region of Ségou was chosen by the foundation to concentrate its funding: 180 million FCFA. The President of the International Trachoma Initiative, Ibrahim Jabr, welcomed the foundation's initiative to "comb through all trichiasis cases, village by village." This approach, chosen by the Trichiasis Surgery Project in the Ségou region in 2009, called the "Bouamatou Project," in his eyes, brings together two major indicators. These are to spare neither village nor hamlet, and to operate free of charge on all trichiasis cases found, without any discrimination. The president of the foundation, Mohamed Ould Bouamatou, explained that his institution is determined to end the deprivation, distress, and financial hardship of those thrown into despair because of trachoma. "Solidarity knows no borders, it has only beneficiaries. Our satisfaction comes from gifts of free and pure love and the desire to share. When one shares and performs an act of kindness, nothing is expected in return, it comes from the heart and is free," testified the benefactor. Mohamed Ould Bouamatou made an appeal to Malian business operators to invest in the health of their destitute brothers and sisters. "Because investing in health is investing wisely," he recalled. The representative of the president of the Foundation for Childhood, Dramane Sangaré, the governor of the Ségou region, Abou Sow, thanked the generous donor for choosing Mali, and especially the Ségou region, to host this important operation. "This project is a chance for the 2,066 villages and hamlets of the Ségou region to definitively turn their backs on this disease," emphasized the regional executive chief. The Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Lanceni Konaté, also thanked the foundation before outlining the national strategy in the fight against trachoma. A strategy focused on combing through all the villages of a health district. The populations are examined and free interventions are offered to detected cases.