**Abstract**

Trachoma is the most common infectious cause of blindness worldwide. In children, repeated episodes of infection within cohorts and family with *Chlamydia trachomatis* would lead to severe conjunctival inflammation, scarring, and potentially blinding trichiasis or entropion in later life. Trachoma is a disease associated with poverty, poor hygiene, and sanitation as well inadequate water supply. Collaborative control programs are implementing the "SAFE" strategy: surgery for trichiasis, mass distribution of antibiotics, promotion of facial cleanliness, and environmental improvement. The SAFE strategy has remained the cornerstone of WHO's plan to eliminate trachoma as public health problem, and many countries and districts have eliminated trachoma by this means.

**Keywords:** trachoma, poverty, Trichiasis, chlamydia, sanitation, azithromycin, water, corneal opacity
