ICTC strongly encourages its members and all trachoma stakeholders to use these figures for consistency of messaging.
- Trachoma is the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness and one of 20 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that affect over one billion of the world’s poorest people - Source: WHO
- 157.7 million people live in trachoma endemic areas - Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record, 29 June 2018
- 43 countries are known to require interventions for trachoma - Source: GET2020 database as at 17 April 2018
- Trachoma is responsible for the visual impairment or blindness of about 1.9 million people
- 2.8 million people require urgent surgery to treat trachomatous trichiasis, the late blinding stage of trachoma - Source: The global burden of trichiasis 2016
- In 2017, 231,447 people received surgery for trachomatous trichiasis, and 83.5 million people were treated with antibiotics. Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record, 29 June 2018
- Women are up to four times more likely to need eye surgery than men - Source: The excess burden of trachomatous trichiasis in women: a systematic review and meta-analysis, 2009
- The disease is responsible for an estimated annual productivity loss of up to US$8 billion - Source: Global burden of trachoma and economics of the disease, 2003
- In 2017, 83.5 million people were treated with antibiotics. For the first time, the global-level of antibiotic coverage exceeded 50% - Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record, 29 June 2018
- Remarkable progress towards elimination has been demonstrated by the year on year increased population coverage against global need for MDA - Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record, 29 June 2018
- Over 740 million Zithromax® antibiotic treatments have been shipped since 1999 - Source: International Trachoma Initiative 2018
- In 2017, 140 new districts received antibiotics. At the same time 250 districts globally reached elimination targets, resulting in 27 million people no longer requiring antibiotic treatment - Source: International Trachoma Initiative 2018
- 201 districts within 11 countries are described as insecure. Global elimination will be reliant on ensuring hard to reach and at-risk populations including refugees, internally displaced peoples and indigenous and nomadic populations are a focus for securing continued national, regional and global progress - Source: GET2020 database as at 17 April 2018
- Investing in the SAFE strategy (Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial cleanliness, Environmental improvement) and coordinating with NTDs, will prevent the loss of 4 million Healthy Life Years (HLYs) by 2030 - Source: Concerted Efforts to Control or Eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases: How Much Health Will Be Gained? 2016
- In 2017, 70 million people lived in trachoma endemic areas in Ethiopia; that’s 44% of the global burden of active trachoma - Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record, 29 June 2018
- 60% of treatment doses distributed worldwide were in Ethiopia - Source: WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record, 29 June 2018
- Ethiopia is making significant gains in scaling up the SAFE strategy. However, as the global trachoma map shrinks, Ethiopia will carry a larger proportion of the global burden - Source: GET2020 database as at 17 April 2018
- As of September 2018, 8 countries have now been validated for elimination by WHO since 2012 (Cambodia 2017, Ghana 2018, Islamic Republic of Iran 2018, Lao People’s Democratic Republic 2017, Mexico 2017, Morocco 2016, Nepal 2018, Oman 2012). For the first time this includes one country in each WHO region - Source: GET2020 database as at 17 April 2018
View and download:
- Eliminating trachoma: accelerating towards 2020
- WHO trachoma factsheet, February 2018
- WHO GET2020 Alliance epidemiology overview, April 2018
- End trachoma: The time is now infographic, April 2018
WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) also serves as an essential instrument for dissemination of epidemiological information.