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  • Title: Onchocerciasis control in Uganda.
    Author: Ndyomugyenyi R.
    Journal: World Health Forum; 1998; 19(2):192-5. PubMed ID: 9652221.
    Abstract:
    In 1990 a community-based programme of onchocerciasis control, involving the use of ivermectin, was introduced in Uganda. The problems confronting it are discussed and suggestions are made for making it sustainable. Onchocerciasis (river blindness) is caused by the filarial worm Onchocerca volvulus, which is transmitted between people by the female blackfly (Simulium). The thread-like adult worms live coiled in nodules beneath the skin. Approximately 85.5 million people in Africa, Latin America, and the Arabian Peninsula are at risk of contracting onchocerciasis. Globally, approximately 18 million people are infected, 1 million are visually impaired, and more than 350,000 have been blinded by infection. Approximately 95% of all infected people live in Africa. About 1.36 million people in Uganda are infected and 1.8 million are at risk. Simulium neavei is responsible for about 85% of onchocerciasis transmission in Uganda. Successful control efforts began in the 1950s consisting of spraying blackfly breeding habitats with DDT were terminated in 1973 due to the imposition of a ban against the use of DDT. Control activities were resumed in 1990 in the form of the launching of the National Onchocerciasis Control Program and the mass distribution of ivermectin. Progress and obstacles in the national, community-based program are described.
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