Camiri, Santa Cruz – Bolivia, 17 march 2025 (OPS)- Camiri, Santa Cruz - Bolivia, 17 March 2025 (PAHO)- Rapid trachoma assessments (RTAs) have been used to detect cases of follicular trachoma and trachomatous trichiasis in 21 remote indigenous communities in Bolivia. The RTAs were conducted by field teams from the Ministry of Health and Sports, as well as trained personnel from indigenous organizations, with the support of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).
This action is part of the Initiative for the Elimination of Trachoma in the Americas, launched in 2023 by the Government of Canada and PAHO to improve the health of communities, women, and children by eliminating trachoma as a public health problem in Bolivia, among other countries in the Region of the Americas.
Based on the findings of the TRAs and on the recommendations of WHO experts, a baseline prevalence survey of trachoma will be carried out in prioritized districts among children aged 1-9 years, along with complementary analyses aimed at identifying other infections.
The trachoma prevalence survey will be carried out this year, beginning in the Indigenous Health Network, where there is higher suspicion of trachoma cases. Actions will be taken with a comprehensive approach, considering the epidemiological profile of the area and requiring the participation of health actors at different levels, as well as indigenous organizations.
In the published results of the RTAs, the Ministry of Health and Sports confirmed that a total of 4378 people were examined: 142 were diagnosed with follicular trachoma and one with trachomatous trichiasis. The Ministry reported that the situation diagnosis will be followed by actions to promote eye health and prevent eye disease in indigenous communities within prioritized health networks.
Through the National Program for the Strengthening of Functional Health Services Networks, the Ministry of Health and Sports began socializing the results of the RTAs in the municipality of Camiri, located in the first prioritized network in the Bolivian Chaco region ( Cordillera Health Network in the department of Santa Cruz). Socialization will continue in the Indigenous Network of the Tropic of Cochabamba and in health networks located in Pando, in the Amazon region near the Brazilian border.
National authorities indicated that this effort will enable timely action to prevent trachoma, considered one of the three main causes of blindness.
"These actions will allow us to determine the next steps we must take as a health system and as indigenous peoples in order to effectively address this disease," said Yecid Humacayo, General Director of Health Services Networks at the Ministry of Health and Sports.
Trachoma is the leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide and is transmitted by direct contact with secretions from the eyes and noses of people infected with the Chlamydia trachomatis bacterium. In 2017, Mexico was the first country in the Region of the Americas to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem.
In the Region, trachoma is endemic in rural and remote areas of Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru, where 5.6 million people are at risk from the disease, which disproportionately affects women and children. In countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti and Venezuela, there are nearly four
million people whose socioeconomic, demographic, environmental, and epidemiological conditions suggest that trachoma may be a public health problem. Surveillance activities will have to be carried out in prioritized communities to confirm the presence or absence of the disease and collect evidence that will lead to the Americas being declared trachoma-free.
Photographs courtesy of the Ministry of Health and Sports and PAHO/WHO.
