Caracas, 13 June 2025 (PAHO/WHO) – A team of 14 health workers from the Ministry of Popular Power for Health (MPPS) are currently visiting the most remote Venezuelan indigenous communities in the Maroa and Río Negro municipalities of Amazonas State, searching for cases of trachoma and offering different medical services to these populations.
This river-based approach, which began in early June and will continue through the end of the month, is part of the Initiative for Trachoma Elimination in the Americas, a partnership between the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Government of Canada that includes Venezuela and nine other countries in the Region, which aims to eliminate this disease throughout the continent by 2030.
Health workers previously trained in detecting trachoma (the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world) are conducting a population assessment to determine the magnitude of the problem and confirm whether trachoma can be considered a public health problem in Venezuela. The first trip down the river was carried out by the MPPS last November, with visits to the municipalities of Atures and Autana in Amazonas State. The second took place during the first three weeks of May, targeting riverine communities in the municipality of Atabapo.
In addition to screening for trachoma, these communities are offered nutrition and immunization services and medical and dental checkups, as well as epidemiological surveillance for diseases such as tungiasis (including diagnosis and treatment), leishmaniasis, onchocerciasis, and soil-transmitted helminthiasis.
Initiative for the Trachoma Elimination.
In 2023, a partnership between the Government of Canada and PAHO was launched to implement this project to improve the health of communities, especially women and children, by eliminating trachoma as a public health problem.
Countries included in the initiative are the following: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, and Venezuela.
