Conclusions & Recommendations

Following the TEC 24 meeting, ITI will share this ‘catch-up’ conclusion with national trachoma programs, implementing partners, and donors.

Regarding catch-up treatments, the TEC concluded that:
- In certain situations where national programs have experienced delays in mass drug administration (MDA) and would like to catch up to their implementation timeline, TEC will consider Zithromax® donation requests with an interval between MDA rounds of at least 6 months.
- 6 months is the 'minimum acceptable' interval between MDA rounds and is not typically expected to replace the standard annual cycle.
- This is subject to change as more data become available.
- Trachoma impact surveys should be conducted after the usual number of rounds (e.g., ≥6 months following the 3rd MDA in implementation units with TF1-9 10-29.9%).

The Trachoma Expert Committee and invited guests met in May 2021 to consider the criteria under which Zithromax® for more-frequent-than-annual MDA would be allocated
Three scenarios were discussed:
1. Catch-up treatments in areas that have experienced programmatic delays or other constraints (e.g., funding, insecurity)
2. Accelerated treatments in areas where the national program would like to expedite elimination (discussions still underway)
3. Intensified treatments in areas with trachoma ‘persistence’ (discussions still underway)

TEC appreciates ESPEN’s continued commitment to filling the gaps in the African and Eastern Mediterranean region.

TEC appreciates the work being done by the ICTC Executive Group and the member organizations to identify gaps as a result of the FCDO budget cuts and support advocacy efforts on behalf of the trachoma community. TEC also noted the work being done to forecast the future trachoma activity funding needs (cost analysis) in support of fundraising efforts.

TEC recognizes and appreciates the long-standing commitment of USAID in support of neglected tropical diseases, including the elimination objectives of trachoma.

TEC notes with concern the impact of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) budget cuts, resulting in the potential loss of over 14 million trachoma treatments and hundreds of thousands of trichiasis surgeries in the next year jeopardizing progress towards trachoma elimination in impacted areas.

TEC recommends that ITI Management send a letter to the Niger national program:
- congratulating the national program managers for their work to address challenges identified during the 2019 program assessment
- commending the program for their adaptability and flexibility in the face of insecurity

TEC encourages the MOH to develop a plan to use any remaining in-country Zithromax® inventory for ongoing TT surgeries, should the impact survey in Dinguiraye indicate that further MDA is not needed.

TEC congratulates the Neglected Tropical Disease Program of Côte d’Ivoire on the operations research in 2 evaluation units to better understand the trachoma epidemiology in that country, given high baseline prevalence in some districts and universally low or absent TT. TEC would like to invite the NTDP to present these data at TEC 25 should these data be available.