Timor-Leste becomes free of a leading cause of blindness

The World Health Organization has officially validated that Timor-Leste has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem, making it the final country in the WHO South-East Asia Region to reach that milestone. Trachoma is the world's leading infectious cause of blindness, spread through contact and often affecting communities with limited access to clean water and healthcare.

The validation followed a multi-year process of surveys and evidence-gathering. A 2025 study of children between one and five years old found no signs of active disease transmission at a level requiring further public health intervention, the final piece of evidence WHO needed to confirm the milestone.

Timor-Leste isn't stopping at elimination. Specialized services, including corrective surgery for advanced cases, remain available through the National Eye Centre at Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares in Dili, with outreach continuing in outlying municipalities, and trachoma surveillance is being folded into the country's regular disease-monitoring systems.

With the entire South-East Asia Region now free of the disease as a public health threat, the milestone brings the global goal of eliminating trachoma everywhere by 2030 one step closer.