Support of visual disabilities in terms of preventive and curative treatment, is a priority for public health in Central African Republic. The lack of recent and reliable data on ocular pathologies in general including trachoma particularly, has led health authorities, in collaboration with partners to undertake an epidemiological investigation to determine the mapping. This study was designed to assess the importance of endemicity in the most sensitive groups within population, including children of 1 to 9 years old. Eight from sixteen health districts in the country, were selected for this survey as a first step. The data collected will assess the real needs in medical and surgical care to develop an appropriate strategic plan of support for this condition on a large scale. This is a cross-sectional descriptive survey carried out in one month, from November 23 to December 26, 2011 in eight health prefectures of the country. The sampling frame was the population of eight health districts. The exhaustive list of villages and demographic data from the national census conducted in December 2003, adjusted by the rate of annual increase of 2.5%has been used. The administrative headquarters of the places of the visited districts leaders were excluded from the sampling frame. A random survey in clusters at two levels made from formed bases. Twenty villages (clusters) in each health district have been drawn according to the proportional probability to the size of the totals cumulative. 12,800 children of both sexes, aged 1 to 9 years have been identified in this investigation and 11,287 were actually examined, or 88.2 %, sex ratio is significantly 1.11. The proportion by age group of the children sampled is stackable to the general population. 26.9 % of TF and 5.9 % TI have been diagnosed. Six from eight districts surveyed are endemic. Three of them had respectively rates of 32.3 %, 47.1 % and 54.3 %.
Keywords: Active trachoma; Basse-Kotto; Central African Republic; Children; Kémo; Lobaye; Mambéré-Kadéï; Mbomou; Ombélla-Mpoko; Ouaka; Prevalence; Sangha-Mbaéré.