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Senegal has been declared free of trachoma by WHO, marking a significant public health achievement.
This success is the result of decades of commitment by the Senegalese government, WHO and global health partners.
Senegal is now the 25th country worldwide and the 9th in Africa to eliminate trachoma.
Fund cuts may disrupt work to eliminate other neglected tropical diseases in the country
Senegal has been officially declared free of trachoma by the World Health Organization (WHO), marking a major milestone in public health and disease elimination.
With the validation on July 15, 2025, Senegal became the 25th country worldwide and the 9th in Africa to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem.
Trachoma, a highly contagious bacterial infection of the eye, is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. It has been a major cause of preventable blindness worldwide. According to WHO, trachoma remains hyper-endemic in some of the world’s poorest and most rural regions across Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Australia and the Middle East.
It is responsible for blindness or visual impairment in about 1.9 million people — accounting for roughly 1.4 per cent of global blindness. Africa continues to bear the greatest burden and leads in the scale of control efforts stated WHO.
The 24 other countries worldwide that have been validated by WHO for having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem include — Benin, Burundi, Cambodia, China, Gambia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Ghana, India, Iraq, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Togo, Vanuatu and Vietnam.
Senegal’s trachoma elimination journey reflects long-term national commitment, international support and community-based health action, according to the WHO. Trachoma has affected communities in Senegal since the early 1900s and was identified as a leading cause of blindness through surveys in the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1998, Senegal joined the WHO Alliance for the Global Elimination of Trachoma. With technical support from the Global Trachoma Mapping Project and Tropical Data, the country conducted its first national survey in 2000 and completed full mapping by 2017.
As per the WHO statement, Senegal integrated trachoma control into its national eye health programmes — initially under the National Program for Blindness Prevention and later through the National Program for the Promotion of Eye Health — ensuring long-term commitment to elimination.
Senegal implemented the WHO-recommended SAFE strategy to eliminate trachoma with the support of partners, reaching 2.8 million people who needed them across 24 districts. The “WHO SAFE strategy” is a package of interventions which include provision of surgery to treat the late blinding stage of the disease, conducting antibiotic mass drug administration of azithromycin donated by Pfizer through the International Trachoma Initiative, carrying out public awareness campaigns to promote facial cleanliness and improvement in access to water supply and sanitation.
Trachoma was the second neglected tropical disease (NTD) to be eliminated in Senegal after Guinea-worm disease (dracunculiasis) in 2004.
These achievements in 21 years offer valuable lessons in confronting other NTDs such as lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis (river blindness), schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths (hookworm, roundworm, whipworm), leprosy, rabies, leishmaniasis and dengue.
“Today we celebrate our victory against trachoma, 21 years after the one against dracunculiasis,” said Dr Ibrahima Sy, Senegal’s Minister of Health and Social Action, in the WHO statement. “This new milestone reminds us that our overarching goal remains a Senegal free from neglected tropical diseases. We are fully committed to this, and we are making good progress, notably against human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and onchocerciasis.”
Senegal remains firmly aligned with WHO’s 2021-2030 roadmap for NTD elimination, advancing its goals through mass drug administration, preventive chemotherapy and robust community-based outreach.
But such progress under NTDs is now under threat. In a major setback to global NTD efforts, the Trump administration froze $114.5 million in 2025 that had already been approved by the US Congress for USAID’s Neglected Tropical Diseases Program.
The freeze has suspended support to 26 countries, including Senegal. This abrupt withdrawal jeopardises the efforts to fight against NTDs in Senegal and other countries such as Mali in West Africa.
Final summary: Senegal has achieved a significant public health milestone by being declared free of trachoma by the World Health Organization. This success is attributed to decades of dedication from the Senegalese government, WHO and global health partners. Senegal's elimination of trachoma, a major cause of preventable blindness, marks it as the 25th country worldwide and the 9th in Africa to achieve this feat. However, recent fund cuts threaten the progress in combating other neglected tropical diseases in the region.
