WHO Appreciates India Trachoma Elimination

India was recently commended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for effectively eradicating trachoma as a public health concern. After Nepal and Myanmar, India is now the third nation in Southeast Asia to do this.

India when it found out Trachoma under control

• Trachoma, a bacterial infection of eyelids, used to be one of the leading causes for blindness in India in 1950s and 60s.
• The National Trachoma Control Program started in 1963, decreasing the number of those blinded from around 5% of the population to less than 1% today.
• The SAFE (S → surgery, A → antimicrobial therapy, F → facial cleanliness, E → environmental improvement) strategy of the WHO to control trachoma.
• India has monitored trachoma since 2019 and is conducting a National Trachomatous Trichiasis Survey (2021–2024) to confirm whether the disease can be classified as controlled.
• More than 69,000 were surgically treated and approximately 64.6 million were treated with antibiotics in 2021 to alleviate the severity of this disease and improve health outcomes.