General News
11 September, 2025
Rotary Beaufort helps fight Trachoma
TRACHOMA remains Australia’s only preventable blinding disease, still affecting some remote Indigenous communities, but Beaufort Rotary is helping change that.
Through the National EndTrachoma Project, more than 260 Rotary clubs and over 40 partner organisations have joined forces to eliminate the disease.
Since its launch in 2016 by the Rotary Club of Melbourne, the project has delivered lasting impact, including more than 2,150 hygiene kits sent to children in the Northern Territory in just one year.
Locally, the Rotary Club of Beaufort is proud to play its part.
Members Peter, George, Denise and President Michelle recently assembled hygiene bags for students at Areyonga School, Northern Territory, with support from Beaufort
Secondary College, who screen-printed the bags.
Beaufort and Skipton Health Service CEO Meryn Pease has also been assisting with the initiative.
“Back in 2020 we sent our first toiletry kits to Areyonga School as part of a broader district campaign,” she said.
“As a result, trachoma incidents in children aged 5–9 dropped to about 8%, which is really exciting. This year we’ve collected and made up another 40 kits to send, and we hope it will again reduce trachoma rates in very young children across the Northern Territory and Western Australia.”
Ms Pease said the goal was clear.
“Trachoma is a third-world disease, and we’re not a third-world country, we have to do something about it. We want to see this disease eradicated from the Australian community.”
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