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A man wearing a beanie hat smiles while sitting on a hospital bed.
Blogs / Fighting disease /

Reaching the Last Mile Fund is advancing health equity in Africa

By prioritising marginalised groups, we’re helping to ensure that everyone can access treatment for river blindness and lymphatic filariasis.

Sunday Isiyaku, September 2025
A woman in traditional African dresswear walks along a street while balancing a tray of fruit on her head.
Stories / Fighting disease /

The women of Touba

This is the story of five women from Touba, Senegal. Each of them had advanced trachoma, and they all received sight-saving operations as part of Senegal’s journey to eliminate the disease.

A girl wearing a hijab is handed a white tablet to protect her from intestinal worms.
Blogs / Fighting disease /

Safeguarding children’s futures: why it’s vital to continue supporting deworming programmes

Parasitic diseases can have a severe impact on a child’s health and education. That’s why the international community needs to step up funding for future treatment campaigns.

Ndellejong Cosmas Ejong, July 2025
Nar, who had successful treatment for trachoma, sits outside with her two grandchildren. They are all smiling.
News / Fighting disease /

Senegal reaches historic milestone by eliminating trachoma

Thanks to support from Sightsavers and other organisations, millions of people in Senegal are no longer at risk from losing their sight to the eye disease.

July 2025
Simon Bush.
News / Fighting disease /

Sightsavers director Simon Bush awarded an OBE

Simon, who is Sightsavers’ director of neglected tropical diseases, is recognised in the King’s birthday honours for his services to eliminating neglected tropical diseases.

June 2025
Samantha Nyathi, who is wearing a Sightsavers-branded T-shirt, smiles while leaning against a wall in a garden.
News / Fighting disease /

Sightsavers employee awarded place on WHO mentorship scheme

Programme manager Samantha Nyathi will receive training, guidance and networking opportunities through the World Health Organization programme.

April 2025
Salamatu stares into the camera.
Blogs / Fighting disease /

Women are most at risk from trachoma: here’s how we can help

Women are four times more likely than men to be blinded by trachoma, an infectious eye disease. But Sightsavers’ Accelerate programme is working to address this inequality.

Sightsavers, March 2025
Batawouni is sitting outside a building looking into the distance. She is wearing a yellow top, gold necklace a traditional African green wraparound.
News / Fighting disease /

Sightsavers welcomes FCDO partnership to tackle lymphatic filariasis in Africa

The UK government has committed £15 million towards beating the painful neglected tropical disease.

January 2025
Three children wash their hands with soap at a sink.
Blogs / Fighting disease /

How people across Pakistan collaborated to beat trachoma

Sightsavers’ Adnan Youhana shares how eliminating the eye disease was a true team effort, involving surgeons, radio hosts and Lady Health Workers.

Adnan Youhana, October 2024
A male eye health worker in Pakistan uses a torch to check a woman's eyes for signs of advanced trachoma.
News / Fighting disease /

Pakistan is 19th country worldwide to eliminate trachoma

Thanks to support from Sightsavers and partners, 3.7 million people will no longer be at risk of contracting the infectious eye disease.

October 2024
Sightsavers researcher Martins smiles as he stands in the middle of a road. He's wearing a Sightsavers t-shirt that reads 'Protect. Defend. Promote. Disability rights.'
News / Fighting disease /

Sightsavers researcher awarded prestigious fellowship

The Injaz fellowship will support Martins Imhansoloeva's research and PhD project on river blindness, a common infectious cause of sight loss.

September 2024
Mzowele drinks water after taking medication for lymphatic filariasis.
Stories / Fighting disease /

“We can have life moving forward in a better direction”

As the world celebrates the 12 billionth treatment to protect people from lymphatic filariasis, we reflect on the journey to eliminate the disease in Africa.

Sabane sits under a tree after successful surgery to treat hydrocele, caused by lymphatic filariasis.
Stories / Fighting disease /

“I’m no longer ashamed to walk around the city”

In Burkina Faso, the ARISE II programme is helping to transform the lives of thousands of people who are suffering from lymphatic filariasis.

Volunteer Moses measures a woman's height to see how much medication she needs to protect her from river blindness.
Stories / Fighting disease /

How cultural awareness can help fight NTDs

Sightsavers’ Khadijah Bello travelled across north-central Nigeria to see how our programmes are fast-tracking the elimination of neglected tropical diseases.

A community drug distributor hands an elderly man medication to treat trachoma.
News / Fighting disease /

WHO report reveals millions no longer at risk from trachoma

The number of people at risk from trachoma has fallen by more than 12 million in a single year, according to a new report by the World Health Organization.

July 2024
A lab scientist in Nigeria examines samples under a microscope.
Blogs / Fighting disease /

How our research could help more than 50 million women

Sightsavers researchers are working to understand how we can care for women with female genital schistosomiasis, a devastating disease that affects millions of women in Africa.

Omosefe Osinoiki, June 2024
Health worker Adesugba checks some medication in the clinic. She's surrounded by charts on the walls and paperwork on the tables.
News / Fighting disease /

Sightsavers and RSTMH extend research partnership

The organisations will publish two further collections of research papers in the journal International Health, focusing on river blindness and general research work.

May 2024
A female researcher speaks to a woman about her experience of female genital schistosomiasis.
Blogs / Fighting disease /

Why community collaboration is important in our research

Our research on female genital schistosomiasis has shown the need to establish a safe environment for participants when studying sensitive topics.

Omosefe Osinoiki, April 2024
A female community drug distributor measures a girl to see how much medication she needs to protect her from trachoma.
Stories / Fighting disease /

“Our programme has transformed communities”

Now in its sixth year, the Accelerate programme has already delivered 53 million treatments to protect people from trachoma, and managed 91,000 advanced cases of the disease.

Eye care staff perform trachoma surveys on children in Cote D'Ivoire.
News / Fighting disease /

Sightsavers’ Accelerate programme gets US$36.5 million funding boost to banish trachoma

The extra funding from international donors will help speed up the elimination of trachoma in Africa by expanding and extending the programme.

March 2024
Dr Ndalela examines a boy's eyes and applies ointment to ease the symptoms of trachoma.
News / Fighting disease /

Sightsavers awarded grant to help eliminate trachoma in Zambia

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has given a grant of US$2.19 million to help fight the disease.

January 2024
A woman receives medication to treat river blindness from community volunteer.
Blogs / Fighting disease /

Expanding the Reaching the Last Mile Fund: a game-changer for river blindness and lymphatic filariasis

The funding pledge is a huge step towards eliminating the diseases.

Phil Downs, December 2023
Eye care staff perform trachoma surveys on children in Cote D'Ivoire.
News / Fighting disease /

Sightsavers and RSTMH host learning event on large-scale trachoma programmes

The online event will share key findings on eliminating trachoma from a new collection of research papers published in the International Health journal.

December 2023
A child in Kenya has his eyes checked by an eye health worker wearing gloves and a mask. They're outside in a village with dusty red sand on the ground.
News / Fighting disease /

Sightsavers pledges US$60 million to help beat neglected tropical diseases

The funding will be used for programmes that protect people from the harmful effects of trachoma, river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis and intestinal worms.

December 2023
A boy wearing a bright blue shirt washes his face using water from a tap.
News / Fighting disease /

Sightsavers research project aims to map the impact of climate change on NTDs

Sightsavers and the Walker Institute will work with Malawi’s government to explore how climate affects diseases.

November 2023
Salifat smiles at the camera
Blogs / Fighting disease /

The world is making progress on eliminating lymphatic filariasis – yet we urgently need to finish the work

Sightsavers’ Roland Bougma shares what action needs to be taken to ensure the disease is eliminated as a public health problem globally.

Roland Bougma, November 2023
An eye health worker looks at images on a laptop during a trachoma training session.
Blogs / Fighting disease /

A good problem: why new training methods are needed to eliminate trachoma

As even more countries get closer to eliminating trachoma, a new challenge is emerging: how to keep the health workforce well-trained on identifying signs of the disease.

Jeremiah Ngondi and Caleb Mpyet, July 2023
News / Fighting disease /

African states honoured for beating neglected tropical diseases

Benin and Ghana, two of the countries where Sightsavers works, have been recognised for their success in wiping out several diseases that are prevalent in poor and marginalised communities.

July 2023
An eye health worker checks a man's eyes for signs of trachoma.
Blogs / Fighting disease /

How Mali overcame three big challenges and eliminated trachoma

Sightsavers’ Boubacar Morou Dicko shares the obstacles Mali faced on the road to eliminating trachoma, and how the country was able to overcome them.

Boubacar Morou Dicko, May 2023
A man smiles at the camera.
News / Fighting disease /

Benin and Mali become the latest countries to eliminate trachoma

Both countries’ achievements have been validated by the World Health Organization, meaning they join a growing list of countries to have banished the disease.

May 2023
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