What if we eliminated one of the world's oldest diseases? | Caroline Harper

Translator: Claudia Herreros Reviewer: Manel Guitart

I'd like you to imagine, just for a moment,

Voldria que imaginéssiu per un moment

that your eyelashes grew inwards instead of outwards,

que les pestanyes us creixen cap endins en comptes d'enfora,

so that every time you blinked,

i que cada cop que pestanyegeu

they would scrape the front of your eyeballs,

us rasquen la part frontal dels ulls

damaging the corneas,

i us fan malbé les còrnies.

so that slowly and painfully, you went blind.

Lentament i amb dolor, us aniríeu tornant cecs.

Well, that's what happens to a person who has trachoma.

Això els passa a les persones amb tracoma.

Now, this little boy here, Pamelo, from Zambia, he has trachoma.

Aquest nen, en Pamelo de Zambia, té tracoma.

And if we don't do anything, he's going to go blind.

I si no fem res, es tornarà cec.

Trachoma is a curious disease.

El tracoma és una malaltia curiosa.

It's a bacterial infection that's passed from person to person

És una infecció bacteriana que passa de persona a persona

and by flies.

i per les mosques.

The repeated infection will scar your eyelids

La infecció constant provoca ferides a les parpelles

so that they contract and they turn inside out.

que es contrauen i es pleguen cap endins.

It particularly affects women,

Especialment afecta a les dones

because they have the contact with children.

perquè són les que tenen contacte amb els nens.

So what you'll often see in places like Ethiopia

Sovint a llocs com Etiòpia es veuen

are girls who have tweezers like this around their necks,

noies amb pinces com aquesta penjades al coll,

and they use them to pluck out their eyelashes.

amb les quals s'arrenquen les pestanyes.

But of course, that only gives them temporary respite,

Però això només els dóna un descans temporal

because they just grow back more vicious than before.

perquè tornen a créixer més fortes que abans.

There are around two million people in the world

Hi ha gairebé dos milions de persones al món

who are blind or visually impaired because of trachoma.

que són cegues o deficients visuals a causa del tracoma.

And we believe there may be as many as 200 million people

I es creu que pot haver-hi uns 200 milions de persones

who are at risk.

que estan en risc.

Now, it's a very old disease.

És una malaltia molt antiga.

What you can see is a photo of a wall of a tomb in Northern Sudan.

Podeu veure una foto de la paret d'una tomba al nord del Sudan.

A colleague and I were traveling in a very remote village,

Un company i jo viatjàvem per una vila remota

and we asked an old man to take us down into a little tomb.

i vam demanar que ens portessin a una petita tomba.

Now, on the wall, we saw two eyes.

A la paret vam veure dos ulls.

One is crying,

Un d'ells plorava

and you can see there are tweezers next to it.

i veieu les pinces al costat.

Simon said to me, "My God, do you think that's trachoma?"

El Simon em va dir: "Déu meu, creus que això és tracoma?"

So we sent this picture to the British Museum,

Vam enviar la foto al Museu Britànic

and they confirmed that, yes, this is trachoma.

i van confirmar que sí, que era tracoma.

So, thousands of years ago,

Per tant, fa milers d'anys

the ancient Nubians were painting pictures of trachoma

els antics nubis pintaven tracoma

on the walls of their tomb.

a les parets de les tombes.

And the tragedy is

I la tragèdia és

that disease is still rampant in that area today.

que la malaltia segueix descontrolada en aquesta àrea avui en dia.

And the crazy thing is, we know how to stop it.

El que és pitjor, és que sabem com parar-la.

And what's great is that the trachoma community have all come together

Per sort la comunitat del tracoma s'ha ajuntat

to pool their efforts.

per sumar els seus esforços.

We don't compete; we collaborate.

No competim, col·laborem.

I have to tell you, that's not always the case

He de dir que no sempre és el cas

in my experience in the NGO world.

en la meva experiència al món de les ONG.

We've created something

Hem creat

called the International Coalition for Trachoma Control.

la Coalició Internacional pel Control del Tracoma.

And together, we've developed a strategy to fight it.

I junts hem desenvolupat una estratègia per combatre'l.

This strategy is called the SAFE strategy,

Aquesta estratègia es diu "SAFE"

and it's been approved by the World Health Organization.

i està aprovada per la OMS.

The "S" stands for "surgery."

L'"S" és de "surgery" (cirurgia).

It's very straightforward procedure

És un procediment senzill

to turn the eyelids back the right way.

que torna a posar bé la parpella endinsada.

We train nurses to do it,

Entrenem infermeres per fer-ho

and they use local anesthetics.

i usen anestèsia local.

And as you can see, you can do it in somebody's front porch, if need be.

I com veieu, es pot fer a l'entrada de qualsevol casa, si escau.

Then "A" stands for "antibiotics."

L'"A" és d'antibiòtics.

These are donated by Pfizer,

Pfizer els dóna

who also pay for those drugs to be transported to the port in-country.

i també en paga el transport fins al port del país.

From there, they're taken to the villages,

D'allà, els porten a les viles

where hundreds of thousands of community volunteers

on centenars de milers de voluntaris de la comunitat

will distribute those drugs to the people.

els distribueixen a la gent.

Now, we train those volunteers,

Formem els voluntaris

and we also help the ministries with all that complex logistics.

i ajudem als ministeris amb les dificultats logístiques.

And every one of those volunteers has a pole like this.

I tots els voluntaris tenen un pal com aquest.

It's called a "dose pole."

Se'n diu "pal de dosis".

This one's from Cameroon.

Aquest és de Camerun.

And you can see it's marked different colors,

Com veieu, està marcat amb diferents colors,

and you can tell how many pills you should give somebody,

on es veu quantes pastilles s'han de donar

based on how tall they are.

segons l'alçada.

"F" stands for "face washing."

L"F" és de "face washing" (rentar la cara).

Now, we used to have trachoma in the UK and in the US.

Abans hi havia tracoma al Regne Unit i als EUA.

In fact, President Carter,

De fet, el president Carter,

he talks about how trachoma was a real problem in Georgia

parla de com el tracoma era un gran problema a Geòrgia

when he was a little boy.

quan ell era petit.

And in the UK, the famous eye hospital, Moorfields,

I al Regne Unit, el famós hospital oftalmològic Moorfields

was originally a trachoma hospital.

era originàriament un hospital de tracoma.

What we do is teach kids like this how important it is to wash their faces.

El que fem és ensenyar als nens com és d'important rentar-se la cara.

And finally, "E" stands for "environment,"

Finalment, l'"E" és "environment" (ambient)

where we help the communities build latrines,

on ajudem a les comunitats a construir latrines

and we teach them to separate their animals from their living quarters

i ensenyem a separar els animals de les zones on viuen

in order to reduce the fly population.

per així reduir el nombre de mosques.

So we know how to tackle the disease.

Sabem doncs com solucionar la malaltia.

But we need to know where it is.

Però hem de saber on és.

And we do,

I ho sabem,

because a few years ago, Sightsavers led an incredible program

perquè fa uns anys, Sightsavers va dirigir un programa increïble

called the Global Trachoma Mapping Project.

que es deia el Projecte Mundial de Mapes del Tracoma.

It took us three years,

Vam trigar tres anys,

but we went through 29 countries,

però vam anar a 29 països

and we taught local health workers to go district by district,

i vam ensenyar als treballadors de salut que anessin districte a districte

and they examined the eyelids of over two and a half million people.

per examinar les parpelles de més de dos milions i mig de persones.

And they used Android phones in order to download the data.

Van fer servir telèfons Android per descarregar els arxius.

And from that, we were able to build a map

Amb això, vam poder fer un mapa

that showed us where the disease was.

que senyalés on es trobava la malaltia.

Now, this is a very high-level map

Aquest és un mapa general

that shows you which countries had a problem with trachoma.

que mostra quins països tenen problemes amb el tracoma.

And you may ask me, "Well, does this strategy actually work?"

Potser us pregunteu: "Però realment funciona aquesta estratègia?"

Yes, it does.

Sí que funciona.

This map shows you the progress that we've made to date.

Aquest mapa mostra el progrés que hem fet fins ara.

The green countries believe they've already eliminated trachoma,

Els països verds confien que han eliminat el tracoma,

and they have either been through or are in the process of

i bé han estat o estan en procés

having that validated by the WHO.

que la OMS ho validi.

Countries in yellow have the money they need,

Els països en groc tenen els diners que necessiten,

they have the resources to eliminate trachoma.

i tenen els medis per eliminar el tracoma.

And some of them are really nearly there.

I alguns d'ells gairebé ja hi són.

But the red countries, they don't have enough funding.

Però els països en vermell no tenen suficients fons.

They cannot eliminate trachoma unless they get more.

No poden eliminar-lo a no ser que n'obtinguin més.

And we're quite concerned, though, that the progress to date may stall.

I ens preocupa que el progrés s'aturi.

So when we were talking to the Audacious ideas guys,

Per això, quan parlàvem amb els nois d'Audacious,

we asked ourselves:

ens vam preguntar:

If we really, really pushed ourselves over the next four or five years

Si de veritat ens esforcéssim en els propers quatre o cinc anys

and we had the money,

i tinguéssim els diners,

what do we think we could achieve?

què creiem que podem aconseguir?

Well, we believe that we can eliminate trachoma

Creiem que podem eliminar el tracoma

in 12 African countries

als 12 països africans

and across the Americas

i arreu d'Amèrica

and all across the Pacific.

i arreu del Pacífic.

And we can make significant progress

I podem fer un progrés important

in two countries which have the highest burden of the disease,

en dos països que tenen l'índex més alt de la malaltia,

which is Ethiopia and Nigeria.

que són Etiòpia i Nigèria.

And in doing all of that,

I fent-ho

we can leverage more than two billion dollars' worth of donated drugs.

podem utilitzar més de dos mil milions de dòlars en donacions de medecines.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)

Now, this map here shows you the impact that we'll have --

Aquest mapa mostra l'impacte que tindríem...

look how many countries are going green.

Mireu quants països passen al verd.

And there, you can see progress in Ethiopia and Nigeria.

I podeu veure com progressen Etiòpia i Nigèria.

Now, yes, there are some countries that are still red.

I, sí, hi ha alguns països encara en vermell.

These are mainly countries which are in conflict --

Són principalment països en guerra...

places like Yemen, South Sudan -- where it's very difficult to work.

Llocs com el Iemen, Sudan del Sud... on és difícil treballar.

So, we have the team, the strategy and the map.

Tenim l'equip, l'estratègia i el mapa.

And we also have the relationships with the governments

També tenim les relacions amb els governs

so that we can make sure that our program is coordinated

per assegurar-nos que coordinen el programa

with other disease-control programs,

amb d'altres de control de malalties,

so that we can be efficient.

perquè sigui eficient.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could do this?

No seria fantàstic poder fer-ho?

We'd have trachoma on the run.

Faríem que desaparegués el tracoma.

We would be on the home straight

Estaríem a la recta final

to eliminate this disease from the whole world.

per eliminar la malaltia de tot el món.

But before I finish, I just want to share with you

Però abans d'acabar, vull compartir

some words from the founder of Sightsavers,

unes paraules del creador de Sightsavers,

a guy called Sir John Wilson.

un home que es diu Sir John Wilson.

Now, he was blinded at the age of 12.

Es va quedar cec amb 12 anys.

And he said,

I va dir:

"People don't go blind by the million.

"La gent no es queda cega de milió en milió

They go blind one by one."

sinó un per un".

And in the excitement of being able to say

I amb l'alegria de poder dir

we've got rid of trachoma for the whole country,

que hem eliminat el tracoma de tot el país,

let's not forget that, actually, this is a devastating disease

no oblidem que realment és una terrible malaltia

that destroys the lives of individual people.

que destrossa la vida de les persones.

People like Twiba.

Gent com la Twiba.

Now, I met Twiba last year in Tanzania.

La vaig conèixer l'any passat a Tanzània.

She had had trachoma for as long as she could remember.

Tenia tracoma des que recordava.

And a couple of months before I met her, she'd had the operation.

I la van operar un parell de mesos abans de conèixer-la.

It's no exaggeration to say

No exagero quan dic

that this had totally transformed her life.

que va canviar-li la vida completament.

We'd saved the sight that she had left, and she was free of pain.

Vam salvar la vista que li quedava i ja no sentia dolor.

She could sleep.

Podia dormir.

She could work, she could socialize.

Podia treballar, socialitzar.

And she said to me,

I em va dir:

"I have my life back."

"He recuperat la meva vida".

And it was impossible not to be moved by her story.

Era impossible no commoure's amb la seva història.

But there are so many Twibas.

Però hi ha moltes Twibas.

I want to find all the Twibas,

Vull trobar totes les Twibas

and I don't want anyone to go blind in agony anymore.

i no vull que ningú més es torni cec amb dolor.

Now, you know, there are so many intractable problems in this world.

Sabeu que al món hi ha molts problemes intractables.

But this is not one of them.

Però aquest no ho és.

This is something that we can solve.

Aquest es pot resoldre.

And we can ensure

I podem garantir

that kids like this can grow up free from the fear of trachoma.

que els nens com aquests poden créixer sense por al tracoma.

So, for the sake of kids like this,

Pel bé de nens com aquests

and for the sake of people like Twiba,

i pel bé de gent com la Twiba,

let's get rid of trachoma.

desfem-nos del tracoma.

Do you think we can?

Creieu que podem?

Well, yeah, if we really, really want to.

Doncs sí, si realment ho volem.

Yes, we can.

Sí que podem.

So thank you.

Gràcies.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)