The Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA)
Abstract
Human onchocerciasis (river blindness) occurs in 13 foci distributed among six countries in Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela), where about 500,000 people are considered at risk. An effort to eliminate the disease from the region was launched in response to a specific resolution adopted by the PanAmerican Health Organization (PAHO) in 1991: to eliminate onchocerciasis from the region, as a public-health problem, by 2007. The effort took advantage of the donation of the drug Mectizan (ivermectin) by Merck & Co., Inc. In 1992, the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA) was launched, with its headquarters in Guatemala, to act as a technical and co-ordinating body of a multinational, multi-agency coalition that includes the endemic countries, PAHO, The Carter Center, Lions Clubs, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck & Co., Inc., and other partners. This public-private partnership facilitated the establishment of programmes for the semi-annual mass administration of Mectizan in the six countries with onchocerciasis. The aims were to (1) provide sustained treatments, with coverage reaching at least 85% of ...Continue Reading
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