Trachoma is an infectious disease of the eye caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. Those who are infected by trachoma do not instantly go blind-the disease manifests gradually. While children are highly susceptible to infection, the most severe effects emerge in adulthood, when scarring from repeated infections causes eyelashes to turn inward and scratch the cornea, leading slowly and painfully to complete blindness.

Currently, more than eight million people are visually impaired or irreversibly blind as a result of trachoma, and over 84 million people have active disease. The disease is particularly widespread in Africa, where 36 countries are trachoma endemic.

Environmental change to increase access to clean water and improved sanitation to eliminate disease altogether The SAFE strategy combines curative medicine, public health measures, and social development interventions to fight blinding trachoma. SAFE uses appropriate medicines and technologies that are readily adaptable to diverse cultures and populations. Communities in which the SAFE strategy is applied have shown progress in the elimination of trachoma.

Trachoma affects rural populations with limited access to health care and clean water, and it disproportionately affects the most vulnerable members of these underserved populations-women and children. The primary hosts of the trachoma bacteria are children under the age of five. Due to the infectious nature of the disease, those who have the most contact with infected children are most likely to become infected themselves.

Yes. Morocco is likely to be the first country to eliminate blinding trachoma using the SAFE strategy. With the support of ITI, Morocco became the first country to complete the campaign for trachoma control in 2006 and is now working toward WHO certification to signify that blinding trachoma has been eliminated as a public health problem.

Because trachoma does not kill, and because it is mostly contained among the world’s most marginalized people, it receives little international attention as a public health issue. a result of receiving little attention, few people have heard of trachoma—despite the fact that trachoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness, with 84 million people currently suffering from active infection.

The bacteria that causes trachoma can be spread easily on an infected person's hands or clothing, or may be carried by flies that have come into contact with discharge from the eyes or nose of an infected person. Because trachoma is transmitted through close personal contact, it tends to occur in clusters, often infecting entire families and communities.