An Integrated Approach to Trachoma, other Neglected Infectious Diseases, and Eye Diseases that Can Cause Blindness in Remote Amazon Populations. Meeting Report (Panama City, 21-22 October 2019)

Abstract

In 2018, an estimated five million people in the Region of the Americas lived in areas where trachoma is a public health problem, mainly in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru. In an effort to establish the situation of trachoma in the Region, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has promoted, among other activities, a search for groups affected by this disease in other countries, primarily in populations living in conditions of vulnerability, such as those in the Amazon region. In October 2019 a meeting was held in Panama City, Panama, to establish a roadmap for addressing trachoma in conjunction with other neglected infectious diseases (such as soil-transmitted helminth infections, lymphatic filariasis, ectoparasitic diseases, leprosy, Chagas disease, and yaws) and other blinding eye diseases (mature cataract and advanced pterygium) in remote populations in the Amazon region. This report—available in Spanish, English, and Portuguese—presents the recommendations of the meeting’s participants in two areas of work: 1) integrated mapping of the diseases and associated risk factors; and 2) integrated actions for the control and elimination of these diseases.