Thomson Reuters Foundation: Lessons from Darfur: How to deliver health care in insecure regions
Simon Bush, director of neglected tropical diseases at NGO Sightsavers

“…The trachoma [mass drug administration (MDA)] program in Darfur is a success story. For the first time, hundreds of thousands of people have been treated for trachoma, preventing them from experiencing a lifetime of pain and visual impairment. It is also a success because communities that have been displaced and had their lives turned upside down have been strengthened by the knowledge that they are solving the trachoma problem themselves. Of course no insecure region is the same as another and each health care program must be tailored to its specific disease. But the approaches taken in Darfur could be adapted and applied in other similar situations” (3/28).