LIFE
The World Health Organization (WHO) has now recognised that India has successfully eliminated Trachoma, a bacterial infection that affects the eyes. In a citation shared by Saima Wazed, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, the UN health body announced that India is now the third country in South-East Asia Region to reach this important public health milestone. “With great pleasure, I congratulate the Government of India on achieving the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem…India’s success is due to the strong leadership of its Government and the commitment of ophthalmologists and other cadres of health-care workers. They worked together with partners to ensure effective surveillance, diagnosis and management of active trachoma, provision of surgical services for trichiasis, and promotion of water, sanitation and hygiene, particularly facial cleanliness, among communities,” Wazed said in the citation. Alert: India receiving citation from @WHO for elimination of Trachoma as public health problem. pic.twitter.com/9QU7KY4z4F The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for South-Fast Asia deems it a great honour to recognize this achievement of the Government of India, especially its Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, she added. Trachoma is a bacterial infection that affects your eyes. It’s caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. According to Mayo Clinic, trachoma is contagious, spreading through contact with the eyes, eyelids, and nose or throat secretions of infected people. India was Trachoma endemic country in the late 1950s and 1960s. However evidence over the next two decades showed a significant reduction in Trachoma prevalence in India. There is no recent evidence on the magnitude of trachoma and related blindness in India, as per Health Ministry survey. According to the Government of India, India is free from infective trachoma and active trachoma in children. The findings of the National Trachoma Prevalence Surveys and Trachoma Rapid Assessment Surveys conducted from 2014 to 2017 showed that the overall prevalence of active trachoma was 0.7 percent. In 2023, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) collaborated with the global health body initiated a study to determine existing trachoma cases in Northern India. According to WHO, the prevalence of trachoma should be less than 5% to mark it as eliminated. In its initial study, AIIMS had noted the prevalence around 3.5 percent. “The Regional Office for South-East Asia of the World Health Organization deems it a great honour to declare that the Government of India has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem in 2024,” the Citation noted. None
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