Tunisia has become the 31st country in the world to be validated by the World Health Organization as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. The milestone caps decades of national effort to defeat a disease that once affected at least half the country’s population — and which remains the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness.
At a glance
- Trachoma elimination: Tunisia met the WHO threshold in every formerly endemic district, including a prevalence of the most severe form of the disease below 0.2% in adults and below 5% in children aged one to nine.
- SAFE strategy: Tunisia scaled up the WHO-recommended four-part approach — surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness, and environmental improvement — across national screening programs, primary care, and school health services.
- Neglected tropical diseases: Trachoma is the first neglected tropical disease to be eliminated in Tunisia, making the country the 14th in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region to eliminate at least one such disease.
A disease rooted in poverty
Trachoma is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. It spreads through contact with infected individuals, contaminated surfaces, and flies carrying eye and nose discharge. Repeated infections scar the eyelids, eventually turning eyelashes inward against the eyeball — a painful condition called trichiasis — and causing irreversible blindness if left untreated.
The disease thrives where clean water and sanitation are scarce. In the early to mid-20th century C.E., it was endemic across Tunisia, hitting southern regions and low-income communities hardest. Its persistence was not a failure of medicine so much as a symptom of deeper inequalities in infrastructure and access.
That context matters. Tunisia’s elimination did not come from a drug alone. It came from decades of investment in the conditions that let a disease like this take hold in the first place.
What the campaign looked like
Tunisia’s Ministry of Health led a response built around the WHO SAFE strategy, running nationwide screening and treatment campaigns and integrating eye care into both primary care and school health programs. Communities were engaged directly on hygiene promotion. Improved access to water and sanitation reduced the environmental conditions that allow the bacterium to circulate.
“This milestone is the result of decades of coordinated national efforts, with the dedication of generations of health-care professionals, local communities who worked tirelessly to expand access to care, strengthen prevention and improve eye health across the country,” said Dr. Mustapha Ferjani, Tunisia’s Minister of Health.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the achievement proof of “what long-term political commitment, strong primary health care and teamwork can do.” Dr. Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, noted that the success reflects “sustained and consistent national commitment over many years.”
What comes next
Validation is not the end of the work. Tunisia now has a post-validation surveillance system in place to detect any resurgence early, with ongoing case management and training built into the system. That infrastructure matters: elimination status can be lost if monitoring lapses.
Tunisia joins 30 other countries — including Ghana, India, Morocco, Nepal, and Senegal — that have already crossed this threshold. WHO’s global trachoma elimination effort, which began in earnest with the 1996 launch of the GET2020 alliance, now targets full worldwide elimination by 2030 C.E. Progress has been steady but uneven; many countries with high disease burdens still have significant ground to cover.
The WHO road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030 sets targets for controlling, eliminating, or eradicating 20 conditions that collectively affect over a billion people, most of them in low-income tropical communities. Trachoma is one piece of a much larger puzzle.
Why this matters beyond the numbers
Blindness is not just a health outcome. It reshapes economic participation, education, independence, and family structures — disproportionately for women, who bear a greater share of the caregiving burden when family members lose sight, and who are themselves more likely to develop trichiasis.
Tunisia’s success shows what is achievable when health systems reach into communities rather than waiting for patients to arrive. WHO estimates that 1.9 million people worldwide are still living with blindness or visual impairment from trachoma, and around 136 million remain at risk. The validated countries represent proof of concept. The remaining burden represents work still to be done.
Dr. Ahmed Zouiten, Acting WHO Representative in Tunisia, put it plainly: “Science, evidence-based programming and coordinated technical support can overcome neglected tropical diseases every time and everywhere.”
That is a claim Tunisia has now backed with evidence. It took generations of health workers, consistent political will, and sustained investment in the most basic conditions for healthy life — clean water, sanitation, and access to care. The WHO validation announcement, issued in May 2026 C.E., marks the formal close of a chapter that began in the colonial era and ends with a country that chose not to accept preventable blindness as inevitable.
Tunisia still faces significant public health challenges, and sustaining elimination gains over the long term will require continued investment in surveillance and primary care. But for now, a disease that blinded generations has been stopped.
Read more
For more on this story, see: World Health Organization
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
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- The Good News for Humankind archive on Tunisia
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