21/12/2001
Target Set To Eradicate Riverblindness

The terrible disease of African Riverblindness will be eliminated in nine years time according to plans advanced this week at the Annual Meeting of the Global Partnership to Eliminate Riverblindness. The partners have pledged $39million to ensure that this is achieved.

Riverblindness - technically Onchocerciasis - is a disease that afflicts rural Africa. It is caused by an insect - the blackfly - that lays its eggs in fast flowing rivers. From there they may be picked up by humans. A parasitic worm develops in the body giving rise to unbearable itching and eventually resulting in blindness.

Since 1974, when the first programme to control and eliminate the disease was launched by the then World Bank President, Robert MacNamara, 18 million children have been born who no longer face the awful risk of catching riverblindness, the Bank says. Altogether 40 million people are currently protected; and 25 million hectares of land have been made safe for cultivation and resettlement, enough to feed 17 million people a year.

The World Bank is one of the Global Partners in the Programme for Onchocerciasis Control. Other partners include representatives from some 30 African countries, the pharmaceutical company Merck, other private companies, 12 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), 27 donors, and the sponsoring agencies-the World Bank, World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

"These programs exemplify the Bank at its best-bringing together African governments, business, non-profit charities and other aid agencies, to empower the poorest most needful group in our member countries-rural communities in Africa," said current World Bank President, James D. Wolfensohn, this week.