El Salvador is now free from trachoma, after the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the country to have eliminated the disease as a public health problem. It is a milestone with regional significance: El Salvador becomes the first Central American country, and only the second in the Americas, to receive this validation.
The validation followed a rigorous, multi-year process. Between 2023 and 2026, El Salvador carried out targeted assessments in communities identified as high-risk based on environmental and social factors. Those assessments found no evidence of active transmission, no signs of the disease in children, and no advanced cases capable of causing blindness in adults.
To qualify for WHO validation, a country must show that trachomatous trichiasis, the advanced, blindness-causing stage of the disease, affects fewer than 0.2% of people over 15, and that inflammation linked to active infection affects fewer than 5% of children aged 1 to 9. El Salvador’s data cleared both thresholds.
What Trachoma Is
Trachoma is a bacterial eye infection, spread through contact with infected eye or nose discharge and by flies that breed in unsanitary conditions. It’s considered the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness. Early infections respond to antibiotics, but repeated infections can scar the eyelids, causing eyelashes to turn inward and rub against the eye, which can eventually lead to permanent vision loss if left untreated.
Related: Averting Child Blindness: Pharmaceutical Innovations Offering Hope.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus credited the achievement to political commitment, strategic investment, and community engagement, calling it a step toward the global target of eliminating trachoma by 2030. In practice, that meant years of work improving hygiene, clean water access, and sanitation, alongside consistent detection and treatment of infections.
Trachoma remains a public health problem in rural and remote parts of Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru. Regional health authorities are also still investigating suspected cases in Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, and Venezuela. El Salvador itself was part of that watch list until this year’s assessments confirmed the disease had been brought under control.
Even with validation secured, WHO says El Salvador must keep monitoring for new cases and maintain access to quality eye care to prevent the disease from re-emerging.
Globally, trachoma is targeted through the SAFE strategy, a combination of surgery for advanced cases, antibiotics, facial cleanliness, and environmental improvements like better water access. Public health experts say El Salvador’s success adds momentum to that fight, proving that with sustained investment and community involvement, a disease responsible for generations of preventable blindness can actually be stopped.
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