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Results & Impact
The Carter Center has assisted in distributing more than 500 million treatments of Mectizan® in Africa and Latin America.
Nigeria halted Mectizan treatments in four Carter Center-assisted states (18.9 million people) per WHO criteria. Resulting in the largest stop-treatment decision for river blindness in history. Subsequently, there are 21.7 million people no longer being treated for river blindness. Two states have met the national criteria for eliminating onchocerciasis transmission, protecting 2.6 million people.
Uganda has eliminated river blindness transmission in 15 of the 17 original transmission foci, with transmission interrupted in the Lower Madi-Mid North focus that will begin post-treatment surveillance. Transmission interruption is suspected in the Upper Madi Mid North and Lhubiriha foci. Currently, 3.2 million people are no longer at risk since the launch of the national elimination policy in 2007.
Ethiopia interrupted onchocerciasis transmission in 17 districts of the South West and Oromia regions, stopping treatments for more than 1.3 million residents. Over 2.9 million people no longer require treatments.
In the Americas, only two countries, Brazil and Venezuela, have ongoing river blindness transmission. WHO has verified four countries as free of onchocerciasis after successfully implementing elimination activities for decades: Colombia (2013), Ecuador (2014), Mexico (2015), and Guatemala (2016).
In Sudan, the Sudanese Federal Ministry of Health announced the elimination of onchocerciasis from the Galabat focus in Gedaref State, joining the Abu Hamad focus, which was the first focus in Africa to achieve elimination by World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines in 2015. Approximately 265,000 people are now protected from the disease in the two foci.
Volunteer community-directed distributor Abeje Ulondimu delivers health education to Gambella Town’s Kebele 5 neighborhood during a mass drug administration event in Ethiopia. (Photo: The Carter Center / Ryan Youngblood)
Dr. Nabil Aziz (center, seated) oversaw the interruption of river blindness transmission in Sudan’s vast and remote Abu Hamad area in 2012. (Photo: The Carter Center / M. Katabarwa)
Health workers in the Amazon Rainforest must travel on foot to treat and prevent river blindness in indigenous Yanomami communities. (Photo: CAICET / Oscar Noya Alarcón)
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Results & Impact
In Nigeria: Millions of Nigerians are no longer at risk of lymphatic filariasis since a pioneering partnership between Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health and The Carter Center succeeded in 2017 in eliminating the disease as a public health problem in Plateau and Nasarawa states. Community-selected volunteers mobilized to educate their neighbors and annually distributed a combination of free medications — albendazole and Mectizan®. In Plateau and Nasarawa alone, more than 36 million drug treatments for lymphatic filariasis were delivered to bring about this success. Insecticide-treated bed nets, donated by Clarke Cares Foundation/Clarke Mosquito Control, were also widely distributed. Drug treatment was discontinued, followed by several years of post-treatment surveillance involving blood-testing for signs of infection. No new infections were found in Plateau and Nasarawa, proving that transmission had been eliminated in those two states in the center of the country.
The seven other states we assist in Nigeria continue to focus on mass drug administration (MDA), while more and more districts within those states, after five or more years of good treatment coverage, conduct assessments to determine whether transmission of lymphatic filariasis has been interrupted.
With support from The Carter Center, the Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health and other partners developed and issued co-implementation guidelines for a coordinated effort to eliminate malaria and lymphatic filariasis. The guidelines called for shared interventions such as health education, community-based action, distribution of long-lasting insecticidal bed nets, and mass drug administration. These are the first of their kind in Africa.
In Ethiopia: In 2009, The Carter Center began integrating mass drug administration to prevent lymphatic filariasis with river blindness and malaria control in the Gambella region. Subsequently, the program expanded to parts of Amhara, Beneshangul Gumuz, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples, and Oromia regions. Significant portions of program have now achieved their goals and are stopping treatment.
In Sudan: Thanks to recent support from the Reaching the Last Mile Fund housed at the END Fund, in 2022 The Carter Center began assisting the Sudan Federal Ministry of Health with the goal of eliminating lymphatic filariasis. The disease is endemic in 14 of the country’s 18 states. Efforts are underway to finalize mapping, expand MDA to all endemic districts, and build capacity for morbidity management and disease prevention in the health care system.
Sama’ila Simon (right) of Nigeria lives with an extremely enlarged right leg due to the parasitic disease lymphatic filariasis. He lives with his brother’s family and has never married, common for those with the disease due to the severe social stigma that accompanies it. (Photo: The Carter Center / Ruth McDowall)
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Results & Impact
Blood in schoolchildren's urine — a telltale sign of schistosomiasis infection — has been reduced by approximately 50 percent in Plateau and Nasarawa states. Particularly high-risk areas in Plateau and Nasarawa states saw infection drop from 31% to 10% between 2013 and 2018.
Because schistosomiasis—a parasitic infection that damages internal organs—mainly affects children, Nigeria’s strategy is to distribute treatment through schools. (Photo: The Carter Center / Ruth McDowall)
Paul Nnamchi, the principal and CDD for his school in Amagunze, Enugu State, Nigeria, records treatments in his log book. (Photo: The Carter Center / Ruth McDowall)
A single annual dose of donated praziquantel is sufficient to keep the tropical parasitic infection under control.(Photo: The Carter Center /
Ruth McDowall)