Unregulated tourism risks disrupting Timor-Leste’s whale migration - news - Mongabay

The World Health Organization (WHO) has validated Timor-Leste as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. Trachoma is the world's leading infectious cause of blindness. Timor-Leste was the last country in WHO’s South-East Asia Region with suspected endemic trachoma. With this validation, trachoma has been eliminated as a public health problem throughout the region. "I congratulate Timor-Leste on this important achievement. By combining sound planning, careful field investigation and modern surveillance, the country has shown how science and strong health systems can protect people from preventable blindness," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "The elimination of trachoma from the South-East Asia Region is a significant step towards our global target of eliminating trachoma worldwide by 2030. "WHO’s validation follows a rigorous, multi-year process to determine whether trachoma poses a public health problem in the country and to document the health system’s capacity to detect, investigate and manage cases that occur in the future.

Photo Caption: Lindsay Milne Grant of Meet Boston and Arnar Már Ólafsson of the Icelandic Tourist Board at Skift Transatlantic Summit in Dublin October 15, 2026. Skift / Bryan Brophy Live tourism is a force in the travel industry, with one in five travelers saying they plan trips around live events and experiences. And often, when destinations and travel companies consider the benefits of hosting high-profile events, they think in terms of increased footfall. But when events happen in high season and tourism is already at peak levels, destinations must consider success from different angles.