By Barbara Nwaiwu
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has validated El Salvador as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem, making it the first country in Central America and the second in the Americas to achieve the milestone after completing a rigorous assessment conducted between 2023 and 2026.
WHO announced the validation on Monday, following a multi-year process to determine whether trachoma remained a public health problem in the country and to verify that El Salvador’s health system can detect, investigate and respond to any future cases.
Targeted assessments carried out between 2023 and 2026 in communities prioritised because of environmental and social risk factors found no evidence of active trachoma transmission. The assessments detected no signs of the disease in children and no advanced cases capable of causing blindness in adults, confirming that trachoma is no longer a public health problem in the country.
WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said “I congratulate El Salvador on this remarkable achievement. It is a testament to the power of political commitment, strategic investment, and community engagement. El Salvador’s success is a vital step towards our global target of eliminating trachoma worldwide by 2030 and a clear signal that a healthier, more equitable future is within reach.”
Dr Jarbas Barbosa, Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), said the validation reflected sustained efforts to reach vulnerable communities and generate evidence that trachoma is no longer endemic in the country.
“This validation reflects El Salvador’s commitment to reaching populations in the most vulnerable conditions and generating solid evidence to demonstrate that trachoma is not endemic in the country,” Barbosa said. “It is the result of sustained efforts to reach communities, identify potential cases, and ensure no one was left behind.”
According to WHO and PAHO, El Salvador’s achievement was supported by strengthened primary health care services, improvements in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), adult visual acuity screening, and collaboration among government agencies, communities and international partners. The country has also established trained health personnel, integrated surveillance systems and the capacity to detect and manage trichiasis cases within its national health system to prevent the disease from re-emerging.
El Salvador’s Minister of Health, Francisco Alabi, described the validation as a significant public health achievement made possible through sustained national efforts with support from PAHO and the Government of Canada.
“El Salvador has reached a major health milestone by achieving certification as a country free of trachoma, the result of sustained national efforts, with the support of the Pan American Health Organization and the Embassy of Canada,” Alabi said. “We are proud to have reached this achievement in just three years, positioning the country in the region and improving the visual health of our population.”
Trachoma, caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, is the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness and is closely associated with poverty and limited access to water, sanitation, hygiene and health care. WHO said the disease remains a public health problem in rural and remote areas of Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru, while surveillance continues in several other countries in the Americas.
With the validation, El Salvador joins 64 countries worldwide recognised by WHO for eliminating at least one neglected tropical disease. WHO said countries that have achieved elimination should maintain surveillance systems and ensure continued access to quality eye care services as it works towards the global target of eliminating trachoma as a public health problem by 2030.