Onchocerciasis Control Program Ends Its Work
in West Africa
For centuries, onchocerciasis – also known as river blindness – has
taken the sight of people in West Africa. A debilitating parasitic disease
passed through the bite of a black fly, onchocerciasis devastated the
lives and livelihoods of farming families in riverside agricultural areas.
In 1974, USAID, other donors, and national governments established the
Onchocerciasis Control Program in 11 West African countries. The program
sprayed larvicides, provided essential drugs through a public-private
partnership with the U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck, and strengthened
disease surveillance and public health management.
Since the Program’s
inception, USAID has been its largest donor, contributing $75 million
to the World Bank-administered Onchocerciasis Trust Fund. In December
2002, the Program declared victory and formally ended its work, having
dramatically reduced prevalence rates and transmission potential to levels
that no longer pose a major public health problem in the program area.
As a consequence, more than 40 million people have been protected from
onchocerciasis and more than 600,000 cases of blindness have been prevented.
In addition to its health impact, the Program helped re-establish agriculture
on more than 25 million hectares of arable land once abandoned due to
the disease. This has allowed enough new agricultural production to feed
an additional 17 million people annually. USAID and other donors continue
to support onchocerciasis control efforts in 19 other African countries
where the disease remains prevalent.
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