title: The prevalence of blinding trachoma in northern states of Sudan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite historical evidence of blinding trachoma, there have been no widespread contemporary surveys of trachoma prevalence in the northern states of Sudan. We aimed to conduct district-level surveys in this vast region in order to map the extent of the problem and estimate the need for trachoma control interventions to eliminate blinding trachoma.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Separate, population based cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 88 localities (districts) in 12 northern states of Sudan between 2006 and 2010. Two-stage cluster random sampling with probability proportional to size was used to select the sample. Trachoma grading was done using the WHO simplified grading system. Key prevalence indicators were trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF) in children aged 1-9 years and trachomatous trichiasis (TT) in adults aged 15 years and above. The sample comprised 1,260 clusters from which 25,624 households were surveyed. A total of 106,697 participants (81.6% response rate) were examined for trachoma signs. TF prevalence was above 10% in three districts and between 5% and 9% in 11 districts. TT prevalence among adults was above 1% in 20 districts (which included the three districts with TF prevalence >10%). The overall number of people with TT in the population was estimated to be 31,072 (lower and upper bounds = 26,125-36,955).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Trachoma mapping is complete in the northern states of Sudan except for the Darfur States. The survey findings will facilitate programme planning and inform deployment of resources for elimination of trachoma from the northern states of Sudan by 2015, in accordance with the Sudan Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) objectives.
authors.affiliation: Federal Ministry of Health, Khartoum, Sudan.
authors.forename: Awad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hassan
authors.forename: Jeremiah M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ngondi
authors.forename: Jonathan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Balgesa E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Elshafie
authors.forename: Ghada
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Al Ginaid
authors.forename: Mazin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elsanousi
authors.forename: Zeinab
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Abdalla
authors.forename: Nabil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aziz
authors.forename: Dieudonne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sankara
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Simms
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Cromwell
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Emerson
authors.forename: Kamal H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Binnawi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001766:Blindness / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013397:Sudan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014141:Trachoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult