US $13.5 million to eradicate river blindness

Donors have pledged US $13.5 million to eradicate river blindness (Onchocerciasis) in West Africa by treating its last cases, the World Bank reported on Tuesday. A further $59 million was pledged at a conference chaired by the World Bank last week in Luxembourg for Phase II of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control, which targets river blindness in 19 countries in West, Central, Southern and East Africa. "It is expected that these interventions will complete the successful, 28-year-old aid partnership, protecting a sub-region of 11 countries and 40 million people against river blindness," the World Bank said. It said 25 million people were treated per year under Phase I of the project (1996-2001). Phase II would enable the programme to treat more than 50 million people per year with the drug Mectizan, donated by Merck & Co. pharmaceutical company. "About 120 million Africans will be protected from the disease," the Bank said. The two programmes are a partnership between UN Agencies, donors, private companies, African countries, local rural communities and non-governmental organizations. The World Bank is one of the sponsors of the global partnership to eliminate river blindness, along with UNDP, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, the Bank reported. River blindness causes unbearable itching, severe skin disfigurement and blindness. Some 99 percent of the world's cases occur in Africa. Phase II of the programme will target Ghana, Benin, Togo, Guinea, and Sierra Leone during 2003-2007. Some areas in these countries had not been reached by the Burkina Faso-based West African Onchocerciasis Control Programme.