Join the Leading Global Eye Health Alliance.
MembershipTrachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness, is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. It is spread by ocular and nasal secretions which are passed from person to person on fingers and fomites, such as hard surfaces and clothing, as well as eye-seeking flies. Repeated infections can cause scarring of the eyelid and inward turning of the eyelid, resulting in eyelashes rubbing painfully against the cornea—a condition known as trachomatous trichiasis (TT). Without intervention, TT can lead to corneal opacification, vision impairment and blindness.
Trachoma is one of 21 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that collectively affect over one billion of the world’s poorest people. As of January 2026, 97.1 million people are known to require interventions against trachoma and 1.5 million people are estimated to require surgery to treat trachomatous trichiasis.
Progress to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem has been accelerated by significant coordination between health ministries, donors, and implementing partners to scale up the World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed SAFE strategy, which consists of multiple interventions to target various routes of transmission, as well as treating infection and its disabling effects. The strategy consists of:
Over the last two decades, significant progress has been made towards the global elimination of trachoma as a public health problem. The World Health Organization Weekly Epidemiological Record, published in July 2025, reported that the number of people at risk of trachoma has fallen from 1.5 billion in 2002 – a 94% reduction. Furthermore, as of February 2026, 28 countries have been validated for eliminating trachoma as a public health problem across all trachoma-endemic WHO regions, demonstrating the effectiveness of the SAFE strategy across different contexts.
The global programme to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem has benefitted from substantial mapping activities, including the Global Trachoma Mapping Project – the world’s largest ever infectious disease survey, which collected data from 2.6 million people across 29 countries from 2012-2016. This has been continued by Tropical Data, a comprehensive service that has supported national trachoma programmes to conduct more than 4,056 surveys across 55 countries since 2016, examining more than 13.1 million people (as at 13 November 2025; source: Tropical Data).
The World Health Organization’s World Report on Vision and Ending the Neglect to Attain the Sustainable Development Goals: A road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030, provide blueprints to accelerate progress towards the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem by 2030, through comprehensive integrated people-centred approaches.
Additionally, an analysis conducted by the International Coalition for Trachoma Control, published in April 2025, estimates that approximately $300 million is needed to support trachoma surgeries, antibiotic mass drug administration, surveys and high priority research through 2030.
Solomon Gadisa, Light for the World
