International Coalition for Trachoma Control

Key statistics

WHO Alliance for the Global Elimination of Trachoma: progress report on elimination of trachoma, 2025–2026 (pages 110–121)

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Data to inform these messages are derived from the GET2020 database and the WHO Weekly Epidemiological Review annual updates on trachoma. ICTC strongly encourages its membership and all trachoma stakeholders to utilize these figures for consistency of messaging.

  • Trachoma is the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness and one of 21 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that affect over one billion of the world’s poorest people - Source: WHO

  • 92 million people live in trachoma endemic areas - Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record

  • Trachoma is responsible for the visual impairment or blindness of about 1.9 million people - Source: World Report on Vision, 2019

  • 32 countries have been validated by WHO as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem (Algeria, Australia, Benin, Burundi, Cambodia, China, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, The Gambia, Ghana, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Vanuatu, Viet Nam) -  Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record

  • 6 countries report having achieved the prevalence targets for elimination (Botswana, Eritrea,

    Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia and Sierra Leone). Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record

  • The estimated number of individuals with trachomatous trichiasis, the stage of trachoma that can cause blindness, reduced by 84% from 7.6 million in 2002 to 1.2 million in March 2026. Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record

  • In 2025, 49.4 million antibiotic doses were distributed to 47.4 million people in support of trachoma elimination. Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record

  • In 2025, 98,829 people were managed for trachomatous trichiasis, a 13% increase on the 87,349 cases managed in 2024. Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record

  • Women are 1.8 times more likely to require surgery than men to treat trachomatous trichiasis, the stage of trachoma that can cause blindness. Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record