Africa

Background: WHO promotes the SAFE strategy for the elimination of trachoma as a public health programme, which promotes surgery for trichiasis (ie, the S component), antibiotics to clear the ocular strains of chlamydia that cause trachoma (the A component), facial cleanliness to prevent transmission of secretions (the F component), and environmental improvements to provide water for washing and sanitation facilities (the E component). However, little evidence is available from randomised trials to support the efficacy of interventions targeting the F and E components of the strategy.

This study supports SDGs 3 and 6 by showing that a handwashing intervention involving disgust-inducing messages, combined with the provision of handwashing stations in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, successfully increased rates of handwashing with soap after toilet use. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of combining health-based messaging with non-health-based messaging when implementing water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions.

This book chapter advances SDG #3 and #10 by reviewing the latest developments in the field of clinical diagnosis and pharmacotherapeutics have provided hope to ameliorate the behavioral changes and cognitive disturbances associated with the disease.

This content advances UN SDG 10 and 13 goals and seeks to examine implications of the Ramsar Convention’s silence on the procedural right to participation in light of indigenous peoples and local communities’ rights in Africa.