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In
our travels, one of the most wrenching diseases we've seen is trachoma, which
is caused by repeated eye infections. Gradually the eyelid turns inward, and
the eyelashes begin to scrape the cornea. This is excruciatingly painful and
feels like grains of sand constantly abrading the eye.
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"It's
like the pain of childbirth, but it goes on for year after year," said
Yagare Traore, an elderly woman in Mali who endured this agony for six years.
She is a widow who spent the time sitting in her hut, blinded and in pain,
unable to farm or to care for her eleven children; perhaps as a result, six of
them died. Trachoma used to be common in America as well but now is found only
in poor countries and is on its way out - in part because it is simple to
prevent and to treat. Training villagers in hygiene, such as face washing, is a
big help, and in areas where it is endemic, an annual dose of an antibiotic
called azithromycin (Zithromax) given to everyone in the community usually
causes trachoma to disappear after three years. The Zithromax is donated by
Pfizer, and the cost of distributing it is just 25 cents per person annually.
This means that a three-year program to eliminate blindness due to trachoma
typically costs just 75 cents per person through an aid group like Helen Keller
International.
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Is
there a better use for 75 cents?
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For
those like Yagare who already have advanced stages of trachoma and turned-in
eyelids (a condition called trichiasis), surgery is still needed. But this is a
simple procedure performed by a single specialized nurse who can undertake
twenty such operations a day. Trichiasis surgery takes about fifteen minutes
under local anesthetic and costs less than $40 per person. When Yagare had her
surgery and the bandages were removed, a boy stepped forward to guide her home.
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"Get
out of my way!" she told him. "I can see! I can walk by myself!"
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Is
there a better use for $40?
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Nicholas
Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn "A Path Appears" (2014)
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