Progress towards eliminating onchocerciasis in the WHO Region of the Americas: verification of elimination of transmission in Mexico

Overview

 The Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA) is a regional partnership, the goal of which is to interrupt onchocerciasis transmission in the Americas by 2015. The OEPA strategy is the provision of MDA with ivermectin tablets ≥ 2 times each year to all communities in endemic foci, reaching ≥85% treatment coverage of eligible populations. The OEPA partnership includes the governments of countries where the disease is endemic, The Carter Center, PAHO, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) and local Lions Clubs, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carlos Slim Foundation, several universities/institutes, and Merck/Mectizan Donation Programme.

In Mexico, the first cases of onchocerciasis were documented in 1923, in southern Chiapas State. The Mexican Onchocerciasis Program was launched in 1930, making it the longest continuously operative onchocerciasis programme in the Americas (85 years). It is also the only onchocerciasis programme in the region to have a cadre of health workers devoted exclusively to onchocerciasis control/elimination.