TT Tracker

Trachomatous trichiasis (TT) is a painful and blinding condition in which the eyelashes turn inwards and damage the cornea. The only way to treat TT is to operate, however those most affected by the disease often live in remote places, miles away from the nearest health clinic. But the TT Tracker, a smartphone-based app, was built in response and helps health workers collect and analyse information about patients’ operations.

Patients’ data is collected when they first register for surgery, and then throughout their treatment journey. Based on the information collected, the TT Tracker updates staff, telling them which patients need to be followed up with and when. Surgeons in charge of their care have easy access to all the information they need through the app.

As well as supporting individual patients, the TT Tracker helps programmes understand how well surgeons are performing. And it gathers information on patient demographics, the number of patients and surgeries, the status of follow-up appointments and surgical outcomes, which is all updated daily and stored securely. Because the data is collected in a centralised system, country governments can use it to inform future work – most importantly, to support the goal of trachoma elimination.