Tropical Data: supporting health ministries worldwide to conduct high-quality trachoma surveys

Summary

Monitoring and evaluation are key to tracking progress towards achieving the 2030 targets for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). For trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide, the Global Trachoma Mapping Project (GTMP) was the largest series of infectious disease surveys ever conducted. Following the GTMP’s conclusion in 2016, Tropical Data was established as its successor, but with an expanded remit to support trachoma impact, surveillance and trachomatous trichiasis (TT) only surveys. This paper provides a summary of the methodological updates, particularly concerning trachoma diagnosis, made to Tropical Data in 2019.