The positive influence the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas has had on Africa programs

Frank O Richards; B E B Nwoke; Isam Zarroug; Edridah Tukahebwa; Nebiyu Negussu; T B Higazi; David Oguttu; Zerihun Tadesse; Emmanuel Miri; Nabil Aziz; Peace Habomugisha; Moses Katabarwa

doi:10.1186/s40249-019-0558-0

The positive influence the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas has had on Africa programs

Infect Dis Poverty. 2019 Jul 15;8(1):52. doi: 10.1186/s40249-019-0558-0.

Authors

Frank O Richards¹, B E B Nwoke², Isam Zarroug³, Edridah Tukahebwa⁴, Nebiyu Negussu⁵, T B Higazi⁶, David Oguttu⁴, Zerihun Tadesse⁷, Emmanuel Miri⁸, Nabil Aziz⁹, Peace Habomugisha¹⁰, Moses Katabarwa¹¹

Affiliations

¹ The Carter Center, One Copenhill Avenue, 453 Freedom Parkway, Atlanta, GA, 30307, USA. frank.richards@cartercenter.org.
² Imo State University Owerri, PMB 2000, Owerri, Nigeria.
³ Sudan Ministry of Health, P.O. Box 303, Khartoum, Sudan.
⁴ Uganda Ministry of Health, 15 Bombo Rd., P. O. Box 1661, Kampala, Uganda.
⁵ Ethiopia Federal Ministry of Health, P. O. Box 1234, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁶ Ohio University, 1425 Newark Rd, Zanesville, OH, 43701, USA.
⁷ The Carter Center-Ethiopia, P. O. Box 13373, Bole K. K. Kebele 05, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁸ The Carter Center-Nigeria, No. 1 Jeka Kadima St, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
⁹ The Carter Center-Sudan, P. O. Box 48, Khartoum, Sudan.
¹⁰ The Carter Center-Uganda, P.O. Box 12027, Kampala, Uganda.
¹¹ The Carter Center, One Copenhill Avenue, 453 Freedom Parkway, Atlanta, GA, 30307, USA.

Abstract

A recent article "Is onchocerciasis elimination in Africa feasible by 2025: a perspective based on lessons learnt from the African control programmes" in Infectious Diseases of Poverty claimed that undue influence on African programs by concepts developed by the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program of the Americas (OEPA) is detrimental to stopping mass drug administration (MDA) in Africa. This claim is made despite a record year for MDA stoppage in four African countries of > 3.5 million treatments in 2018, far exceeding any past OEPA or African Program for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) stop MDA success.

Keywords: Elimination; Ivermectin mass drug administration; Onchocerciasis; Onchocerciasis control Programme for West Africa; Test for antibody to Onchocerca volvulus 16 kDa antigen.

Publication types

Letter

MeSH terms

Africa
Americas
Animals
Disease Eradication / organization & administration*
Filaricides / therapeutic use*
Humans
Ivermectin / therapeutic use*
Mass Drug Administration / standards*
Onchocerca volvulus / physiology
Onchocerciasis, Ocular / prevention & control*

Substances

Filaricides
Ivermectin