The Health Ministry is joining hands with universities of medical sciences in Sistan-Baluchistan Province as well as international NGOs to provide treatment for trachoma following its spread in Zabol city which shares its borders with Afghanistan. “We were recently informed of a number of trachoma cases that have spread out of control in the border region,” the ministry’s Visual Health and Blindness Prevention Department head, Dr. Farzad Mohammadi, told ISNA. Trachoma, a bacterium-borne eye infection, is responsible for the blindness or visual impairment of about 1.9 million people worldwide. Blindness caused by this infection is irreversible. Iran is in the eradication stage of the disease for the past 15 years. Studies have confirmed that the Sistan-Baluchestan region is not endemic for trachoma. The borderline seems to be the only area where new cases have been popping up. “Quick and timely interventions are vital to prevent its spread,” Mohammadi stressed.
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