Army of Women Educates on Trachoma in Ethiopia

Thursday, January 8, 2015

An army of women” in Ethiopia has been recruited to teach friends and neighbors how to prevent trachoma, an eye disease that’s preventable but still very common in many parts of Ethiopia. The confederation of national development NGO’s — Light For The World – has been working to implement national eye health initiatives to prevent trachoma and other eye diseases through the World Health Organization’s initiative “VISION 2020—the right to sight”.

One major step in preventing trachoma is to educate local communities on the causes and prevention of trachoma.

Light For the World and its partners train at the local level, through such initiatives as Ethiopia’s “Army of Women.” Mebrit Kasua is a 20-year-old wife, mother of two small children and a leader of the Health Development Army in her community, “an army of women” fighting diseases with medicine and knowledge.

A Light for the World program officer who helps train the “Army of Women, Kalikidan Ketsela, translated Mebrit’s description of the day’s work in the Tigray region, as a member of the family and a soldier in the Health Development Army.

“After she wakes up, she directly goes to the cleaning of the latrine, the compound, and the house and the materials. After that she goes with her husband to the field for plowing, for weeding, and for whatever activities. After that she returns back to home…preparing coffee,” explained Ketsela.

Source: Voice of America (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Education, Health Care