VANESSA VICK PHOTOGRAPHY

Ethiopia

Ethiopia is estimated to have the highest level of blindness in the world, and a third of these cases are caused by trachoma.

Yengusie Tebeje received surgery to shorten her eye lids but unfortunately her daughter also suffers from trichiasis and has not received surgery to correct it.
  
Young children bear the heaviest burden of infections with trachoma and are the main source of infection for other people. Transmission takes place when the bacteria moves from the eyes of an infected person to an uninfected person often through eye-seeking flies.
   
Surgery is performed to correct the advanced stage of trachoma trichiasis, the inward turning of eyelashes that leads to corneal abrasion and eventual blindness.
     
  
Agerie Yetiyew has just undergone surgery and is recovering at her home. She is a 9th grade student and has not been able to study well for the past 2 years because of the pain in her eyes.
  
Trachoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide. It is caused by infection with Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria, making it both treatable and preventable.
   
Agerie Yetiyew is comforted by a surgeon at the Motta Health Center.
     
  
Women are usually the main workers in the house. While older women with trichiasis may be looked after by their children, younger ones are frequently considered a burden and divorced by their husbands.
   
Former US President Jimmy Carter tours a village in Ethiopia where The Carter Center has worked in an effort to eradicate Trachoma.
   
At the Motta Health Center information is given at a demonstration latrine. The health worker talks to people about the benefits of building a latrine and having proper hygiene.
     
  
Yeshiwork Kebede has just undergone surgery to shorten her eyelids. Her husband used to pull her eyelashes out in an effort to alleviate the pain.
   
Yalemzewed Tamiru has scarring under her eye lids and could develop trichiasis later in life and her younger brother Tiruaynet Tamiru has an active case of trachoma.
  
The government of Ethiopia and the Carter Center have launched a campaign to encourage rural people to build latrines in order to reduce the number of flies and improve health.
     
  
Women are approximately three times more likely to have trichiasis than men. In some communities in Ethiopia as many as 20 percent of women over 15 have trichiasis and risk social and economic punishments for their illness.
   
Alme Addis has had pain in her eyes for 10 years. She did not come for the operation until now because there would be no one to cook or care for her children. She is led home by her son after having both eyes operated on.