Malawi has beaten the World Health Organization (WHO) deadline on the elimination of trachoma disease.
According to the Ministry’s spokesman, Joshua Malango, Malawi beat the WHO’s 2020 deadline for the elimination of the disease but Malawi has eliminated the disease a year before the deadline. In 2014, government adopted a five-year national strategic plan on the elimination of trachoma which was adopted in 2014.
“There are now less than one percent of trachoma active cases whilst the WHO set target of five percent. This disease is no longer a health threat,” said Malango. Trachoma is an eye disease which can cause blindness and was rampant in the country in the Lower Shire.