MORE than 200_000 doses of antibiotics, donated by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer for use in fighting trachoma – an eye disease affecting 142 million people worldwide – are to be sent soon to Mali. The announcement was made by the International Trachoma Initiative jointly with the Malian Minister of Health. One third of all children in Mali are stricken with trachoma, a contagious disease spread through human contact in overcrowded and unclean conditions. If left untreated, it can result in blindness. – AFP