El Salvador is the first country in Central America and the second in the Americas that WHO has validated as having eliminated trachoma.
The country reached the goal in three years, with stronger primary health care, better water and sanitation, and vision screening for adults.
The number of people in the world who need interventions against trachoma has fallen by 94 percent since 2002, to 92 million in March 2026.
The World Health Organization, WHO, has confirmed that El Salvador has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. Trachoma is the world's leading infectious cause of blindness.
El Salvador is the first country in Central America to reach this goal. In the Americas, only Mexico has done so before.
According to Health Minister Francisco Alabí, it took three years to get there. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed to the country's political commitment, its investments and the engagement of local communities.
Eye exams house by house
In 2023, El Salvador joined an initiative to eliminate trachoma in the Americas. It is led by the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO, and partly funded by Canada. Ten countries take part.
The Ministry of Health set up a national trachoma working group. The group created an index of the areas most at risk. It looked at poverty, access to water and sewage, and geographic location.
In 2024 and 2025, twelve municipalities were surveyed. Teams trained to WHO standards went from house to house. They examined the eyes of children aged 1 to 9 and adults aged 15 and older. In total, the surveys covered 3,248 people.
Among 2,091 children, the teams found a single case of active inflammation. Among 1,016 adults, they found no cases of trichiasis, the stage of the disease that leads to blindness, according to ICTC, an international coalition against trachoma.
For WHO to validate a country, fewer than 5 percent of children aged 1 to 9 can have active inflammation. Fewer than 0.2 percent of people aged 15 or older can have trichiasis that is unknown to the health system. The country must also have a system to find and treat new cases.
PAHO Director Jarbas Barbosa said El Salvador has reached highly vulnerable groups and produced clear evidence that trachoma is not widespread in the country.
Water, hygiene and eye care
The work built on stronger primary health care, better access to water, sanitation and hygiene, and eye care that tests adults' vision. The surveys were combined with vision screening, vaccinations and water testing.
El Salvador now has trained health workers, a system to monitor the disease, and the ability to detect and treat trichiasis within its own health system. Suspected cases are to be flagged through electronic health records in primary care.
Spreads where water is scarce
Trachoma is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. It spreads through discharge from the eyes and nose, for example via hands, clothing and flies. Repeated infections scar the inside of the eyelid. Eventually, the eyelashes turn inward and rub against the cornea. The disease spreads more easily where people live in crowded conditions and have poor access to water.
64 countries have eliminated at least one tropical disease
El Salvador became the 32nd country in the world that WHO has validated as having eliminated trachoma. The list includes India, China, Mexico and Gambia. Since then, Timor-Leste has received the same validation, and the list now includes 33 countries.
With this validation, El Salvador is one of 64 countries that have eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease. Seven of them are in the Americas.
At a meeting of PAHO's Directing Council, El Salvador was recognized together with Brazil, Chile, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. All of them have been validated by WHO for eliminating an infectious disease as a public health problem or for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
The number of people who need help against trachoma has decreased sharply. In March 2026, 92 million people worldwide needed interventions against the disease. That is 94 percent fewer than the 1.5 billion estimated to be at risk in 2002.
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