El Salvador has become the latest country to officially eliminate trachoma, the world's leading infectious cause of blindness, as a public health problem.
The result came from years of patient, unglamorous work: clean water access, hygiene education, and simple antibiotic treatment reaching the communities who needed it most.
Health officials called it a major health win for the Central American nation. Progress like this rarely happens overnight. It happens because people kept showing up, year after year, in villages and clinics that don't make headlines.
Public health workers say the next priority is keeping surveillance in place so the disease does not return.
