Report from the fifteenth InterAmerican Conference on Onchocerciasis, Caracas, Venezuela

Overview

Onchocerciasis (river blindness) is caused by the filarial parasite Onchocerca volvulus and is endemic in 6 countries of the Ameri­cas: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela. The Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA) is a regional initiative with the goals of eliminating ocular morbidity from onchocerciasis and interrupting transmis­sion of the parasite in the 13 endemic foci in the region. The OEPA strategy is to strengthen ministries of health in the 6 endemic coun­tries to provide sustained mass treatment every 6 months with the safe and effective oral microfilaricide ivermectin (Mectizan), which is being donated by Merck & Co., Inc. National treatment programmes aim to reach at least 85% of all people eligible for treatment who reside in 1950 communities known to be endemic for onchocerciasis. The OEPA partnership includes the endemic countries, the World Health Organization (WHO), The Carter Center, Lions Clubs, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Bill 8c Melinda Gates Foundation, and Merck 8c Co., Inc.

The fifteenth annual InterAmerican Confer­ence on Onchocerciasis (IACO 2005) was held in Caracas, Venezuela, from 16 to 18 No­vember 2005. The meeting was organized by the Venezuelan Ministry of Health and the Instituto Biomedicina, with assistance from OEPA and WHO, and financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lions Clubs Sight First Program and Merck & Co., Inc. In addition to representatives from the 6 national programmes and the sponsoring agencies, the meeting was attended by repre­sentatives from the Mectizan Donation Program, Lions Clubs members from all the endemic countries, nongovernmental development organizations involved in ivermectin distributionin endemic areas, CDC and academic institutions.This report describes the advances in 2005 provided by thenational programmes at IACO, supplemented by informa-tion received by OEPA since the meeting.