EYE HEALTH

Defeating The Blinding Curse In Marginalized Children

Picture Courtesy of Internet

By JUDITH MORAA
Every child desires to watch their mother smile, read & write and share in the happiness of their family's joy. This are the things we take for granted. Our ability to see the sun rise and set, watch our children play happily and even the clean water at our disposal.

This is not the case in Kajiado county, which has been named as one of the trachoma-endemic counties in Kenya.

Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness in the world among children. It starts from childhood and if left untreated leads to total blindness. It is commonly found in Pastoral areas with poor hygiene environments. Children between 1-9 years are the most affected victims of this blinding curse followed by those aged 10-15 years. As they innocently interact with their animals, unclean water, lack basic hygiene and adequate sanitation at home and school they unknowingly expose themselves to this unbearable condition which takes away their ability to enjoy their visual life as children.

So, what is Trachoma you ask? Trachoma is a bacterial eye infection found in the poor and isolated communities.  It is easily spread through eye-seeking flies, hands, and clothes. Repeated infection leads to scarring and inward turning of the eyelid, eventually causing blindness if left untreated.

Most schools in the pastoral areas lack access to clean latrines and have poor access to clean water for consumption. The children happily consume the water collected from dirty grounds to quench their unbearable thirst not knowing of the dangers they ingest into their systems. All this is caused by lack of information, poor traditional beliefs about preventive drugs and surgery and the proper education on the importance of proper care of the facial organs in these areas.

Infection usually first occurs in childhood with the disease progressing over years as repeated infections cause scarring on the inside of the eyelid, earning it the name of the “quiet disease”. The eyelashes gradually turn inwards and rub on the cornea, which becomes scarred, leading to severe vision loss and, eventually, blindness. Children easily access their itchy eyes at any time with dirty hands. This poses as the major transmission cycle of the bacterial infections from surroundings to the hands and finally to their tiny eyes.

Trachoma can be a story of the past if information about this blinding curse is spread among the affected communities. With each new sanitation project, the threat of Trachoma will gradually recede, saving countless children and their families from this incredibly painful and entirely avoidable disease. While eyesight is the most essential gift a human being can ever get, it gets very tragic for a child , who was used to watching the sunrise, to lose his/her ability to see the world to a disease that could have been prevented and eradicated.

Trachoma disappears if the preventive measures mentioned above are employed and poverty levels are reduced. Measures such as education about the disease, hygiene and face washing also help greatly.

If we join hands as a nation and other NGOs that are already eradicating the spread of these bacteria in these areas, the children can lead normal lives again and the "quite blinding curse" will be a thing of the past.