The World’s Leading Cause of Preventable Blindness

• Trachoma is the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness.
• 63 million people suffer from active trachoma infection and 8 million people are visually impaired or irreversibly blind as a result of trachoma. 
• Trachoma is an infectious disease of the eye caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, which is spread easily by contact with an infected person’s hands or clothing, or by flies that have come in contact with the eyes or nose of an infected person.
• Those who are infected by trachoma do not instantly go blind. The disease manifests gradually:  while children are most susceptible to infection, they may not note its effects until adulthood, when scarring from repeated infections causes the eyelashes to turn inward and scratch the cornea, leading slowly and painfully to complete blindness.
• Because trachoma is transmitted through close personal contact, it tends to occur in clusters—often infecting entire families and communities.

A Disease of Poverty
Trachoma can destroy the economic well-being of entire communities, keeping families shackled within a cycle of poverty as the disease and its long-term effects pass from one generation to the next:

• Globally, trachoma results in an estimated US $2.9 billion in lost productivity per year.
• Blindness from trachoma strikes adults in their prime years, hindering their ability to care for themselves and their families.

Women, traditionally the caretakers of the home, are three times more likely than men to be blinded by the disease.  When a woman can no longer perform vital activities for her household, an older daughter is often removed from school to assume her mother’s duties, thus losing her opportunity for a formal education.

A Hidden Disease
Though trachoma is widespread, it is also little-known outside of affected communities.  Trachoma mainly thrives in isolated rural communities where people live in overcrowded conditions with limited access to water and health care. In some communities, the disease is so common that blindness from trachoma is simply accepted as a fact of life.

A Treatable Disease
Trachoma is treatable and preventable with a multifaceted approach known as the SAFE strategy.  Recommended by the World Health Organization, the SAFE strategy is a comprehensive public health approach which combines treatment (Surgery and Antibiotics) with prevention (Facial cleanliness and Environmental improvement).