Onchocerca volvulus© RALPH C. EAGLE, JR./SCIENCE SOURCEIn 2002, they said it was impossible. At an international conference held in Atlanta, 64 experts on public health, human rights, and finance concluded that ridding Africa of river blindness—a parasitic disease more formally known as onchocerciasis—was unachievable.
Unlike in Central and South America, where certain regional pockets of onchocerciasis had been conquered, Africa’s disease burden was deemed too massive, with 99 percent of the world’s 17.7 million annual cases occurring on that continent. Furthermore, it had taken a legion of health workers to make the substantial progress witnessed in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela—resources that aren’t available in many African countries.
Several attendees at the 2002 summit, which included reps from the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the World Bank, argued that future efforts in Africa should focus on limiting the spread of onchocerciasis, rather than complete eradication. But a group of scientists at The Carter Center already ...
