Egypt’s milestone keeps surveillance relevant
Elimination has a defined public-health threshold.
- Event / announcement date
- 2025-11-12
WHO announced on November 12, 2025, that Egypt had eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. That status does not mean every infection has disappeared. [1]
WHO’s September 2026 fact sheet defines elimination in each formerly endemic district: follicular trachomatous inflammation below 5% in children aged 1–9, sustained at least two years without ongoing antibiotic mass treatment; and trichiasis unknown to the health system below 0.2% in people aged 15 or older. Trichiasis involves eyelashes touching the eye. A system must identify and manage new cases, with strategies and funding. [2]
Egypt mapped all 27 governorates during 2015–2025, according to WHO. Trachoma entered the national electronic disease-reporting system in 2024. That infrastructure supports the continuing surveillance behind the milestone. [1]
An earlier example shows the work extends beyond clinics. WHO’s 2018 account of Nepal describes school health education and water-ministry sanitation incentives alongside its elimination programme. It illustrates institutional cooperation, without establishing which intervention caused Egypt’s result. [3]
The source
- WHO: Egypt trachoma announcement ↗
Source date 2025-11-12 · reviewed October 29, 2026 - WHO: Trachoma elimination criteria ↗
Source date 2026-09-07 · reviewed October 29, 2026 · publication - WHO: Elimination criteria and Nepal history ↗
Source date 2018-05-21 · reviewed October 29, 2026
About this item: Retrospective report. No first-hand reporting or independent testing is claimed. Corrections policy.
