Senegal reaches a new milestone against preventable blindness
WHO’s July 2025 validation recognized elimination of trachoma as a public health problem after sustained eye-health work.
News report
The World Health Organization announced on July 15, 2025, that Senegal had eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. The validation recognized a long-running programme to reduce an infectious eye disease that can cause irreversible sight loss after repeated infections.
Senegal combined surgery for the late blinding stage with antibiotic distribution, public information on facial cleanliness and improvements in water and sanitation. WHO described these as parts of the SAFE strategy, a coordinated approach that addresses infection, its consequences and conditions that help it spread.
Mapping was another part of the work. Senegal completed national disease mapping by 2017, allowing programmes to identify where services were needed. The WHO announcement reported interventions reaching 2.8 million people across 24 districts during the elimination effort.
Sightsavers, a programme partner, separately reported supporting more than 4.2 million antibiotic doses and 30,000 operations over 13 years, as well as training 45 trachoma surgeons. These are the partner’s cumulative programme figures, rather than an annual national total or a count of individual people treated.
Elimination as a public health problem is a defined population-level milestone. It does not guarantee that every infection has vanished or that earlier damage to vision has been reversed. WHO said it would continue supporting monitoring in formerly affected communities. The 2025 result recognizes measurable progress while keeping detection and care available for future cases.
Sources
- WHO: Senegal eliminates trachoma as a public health problem — 2025-07-15
- Sightsavers: Senegal milestone — 2025-07
