The end is in sight for trachoma
We’re on a mission to end trachoma by 2025, and with your support, we can make history.
The End is in Sight is our fundraising campaign to eliminate one of the world’s oldest diseases. We know where it is, and how to treat it. Now we need your help to banish it for good.
Together, we can end the agony of trachoma.
An excruciating disease
Imagine if every time you blinked, your eyelashes scraped agonisingly on your eyeballs until you went blind. That’s the reality for millions of people who have trachoma.
What we’re doing
This infectious eye disease thrives in areas with water shortages, poor sanitation and infestations of flies.
But it can be treated and prevented with antibiotics and good hygiene.
Help us make history
We’ve spent years treating people for the disease, and we’ve already beaten it in Ghana. We aim to eliminate it for good by 2025. But we need your help: find out how below.
Support our mission to end the agony of trachoma
DONATEHow can I get involved?
Make a donation
Your gift can help us distribute antibiotics to banish trachoma for good by 2025, saving millions of people from the threat of blindness. Help us make history: donate now
Fundraise with us
There are so many ways you can help, from organising a coffee morning to running a marathon, trekking up Kilimanjaro or even skydiving. Get started with fundraising
We can’t do it without your help
We must act now. If we can reach a child with trachoma and treat them with antibiotics, their sight can be saved.
But the longer they go without treatment, the more damage trachoma can cause. And it takes more than their sight. The agony and disability of trachoma can stop people earning a living and prevent children going to school, leaving them trapped in a cycle of poverty.
It takes their independence. Their education. Even their future.
Through years of hard work, we’ve weakened trachoma’s grip and have beaten it in countries such as Ghana. Now we have a chance to make history.
Our plan is to eliminate the disease by 2025. Will you join the fight?
What is trachoma?
More than 142 million people worldwide are at risk of going blind from the disease.
More about trachoma“The medicine saved my eyes!”
Six-year-old Namukolo, from rural Zambia, was suffering from trachoma. Without treatment, she risked going blind and spreading the infection to her twin brother. But thanks to Sightsavers, she was diagnosed and given antibiotics to treat the infection and save her sight. Read Namukolo’s story
Help end the misery of trachoma
Find out more about trachoma
What we achieved in 2019
It's been another groundbreaking year for Sightsavers. Find out what we’ve been up to, from launching new programmes and hosting high-profile exhibitions to meeting the Queen.
Accelerate: what’s been achieved in 2019
The Accelerate programme, which aims to eliminate trachoma in nine African countries by 2023, has made great progress in its first 12 months.
November updates: highlights from around the world
In Nigeria, a lymphatic filariasis patient is planning to marry his partner after receiving treatment to stop his pain. Plus news from Senegal, Zambia and India.
Dr Caroline Harper wins the first Hemingway Award
Sightsavers’ CEO was recognised for her work to help eliminate trachoma by transforming the way funding is secured.
Sightsavers’ pioneering work is showcased in new Science Museum exhibition
Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries is the world’s largest medical gallery and will be on display for at least 30 years.
Esther’s story
Esther Anyango, from Uganda, operates on people with blinding trachoma through The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust’s Trachoma Initiative.
October updates: highlights from around the world
In Nigeria, an eye health volunteer has been rewarded for helping to prevent river blindness for more than 20 years. Plus news from Zimbabwe, Ghana and Mali.
Huge increase in Tropical Data surveys means more people are checked for trachoma
More than 700 surveys to track levels of blinding trachoma have been completed globally in the past year as part of the Tropical Data initiative.
Cracking the code: using technology to improve mass drug administration in Zimbabwe
Sightsavers' Sarah Bartlett explains how technology – in various forms – helps us to keep track of the complex logistics involved with large trachoma treatment campaigns.
