Changing Futures
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In Strategic Initiative Fund I, the 2007-2010 Zambia Blindness Prevention Initiative successfully reached four of the seven districts in Luapula province. We equipped local medical service providers, improved sanitation, and conducted health education— positively impacting almost half a million lives. In SI Fund II, we built and expanded on SI Fund I in two ways. Firstly, we expanded the programme to include the remaining three districts, making the programme province-wide. Secondly, we identified the prevalence of trachoma and introduced a robust project to eliminate blinding trachoma as a public health problem in Nchelenge and Chienge districts. Thus an investment of $1.6 million over the four years of SI Fund II has effectively impacted the entire 1.2 million population of the Luapula province. This programme is remarkable for the integrated nature of its multiple components, including mass drug administration, water and sanitation improvements, eye health education outreach, and increased access to medical treatment. Moreover, the programme is notable for its scale, which addresses the issue of preventable blindness at a province-wide level, and aspires to enact environmental and behavioural change. And remarkably, that is what has been achieved.