Background: - Trachoma is still a widespread disease that causes blindness in many developingrncountries. Disease transmission occurs primarily between children and the women who care forrnthem. There are currently 590 million people at risk from blinding trachoma, 150 million peoplernwith active trachoma, 10.6 million people with Trichiasis, and 5.9 million people with irreversiblernblindness due to trachoma. In Ethiopia the national blindness prevalence is estimated to be 1.25%rnand more than 900,000 persons are believed to be blind.rnObjective :- This study is designed to assess the prevalence of active trachoma among youngrnchildren in relation to the implementation of SAFE strategy in their living area.rnMethods :- A comparative cross sectional study to assess the prevalence of active trachoma amongrnyoung children, with a total of 1244 children included in the study. The sampling technique wasrnmulti-stage sampling by randomly selecting six kebeles from Ebinat woreda, and four kebeles fromrnEast Belesa woreda. The selected kebeles were divided into 144 villages, and among these 15rnvillages were selected by simple random sampling methods. 796 households with children under tenrnyears in the selected villages were interviewed, and 1244 children were examined for the presencernof active trachoma disease. This study took place between October and December 2004.rnResult In this study the prevalence of active trachoma in Ebinat woreda, where the SAFE strategyrnhad been implemented, was 32%, and in East Belesa woreda, where the SAFE strategy was notrnimplemented, prevalence was 56.9%. Awareness of the community for the preventions of trachomarnin the area where SAFE strategy implemented was higher than non-implemented area. But inrnpractice there were no differences except that face washing was more practiced in the area of SAFErnstrategy implemented.rnConclusion The prevalence of active trachoma was lower in the area where SAFE strategy wasrnimplemented but it was higher in children residing in the area where SAFE strategy was notrnimplemented. Infrequent face-washing habit was the strongest predictor of active trachoma.rnRecommendation Efforts should be concentrated on improving face-washing habit of children tornreduce the magnitude of trachoma. Government and non-government organizations, planners andrnhealth policy makers should give a special emphasis for the role of SAFE strategy on trachomarncontrol program.