Report from the sixteenth InterAmerican Conference on Onchocerciasis, Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala

Overview

Onchocerciasis (river blindness) is caused by the fi larial parasite Onchocerca volvulus and is endemic in 6 countries of the WHO Region 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 new 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 to provide sustained mass treatment every 6 months with the safe and effective oral microfi laricide 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 the 1950 communities known to be endemic for onchocerciasis. The OEPA partnership includes the endemic countries, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), The Carter Center, Lions Clubs, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Mectizan® Donation Program and Merck & Co., Inc.

The sixteenth InterAmerican Conference on Onchocerciasis (IACO 2006) was held in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala, on 7–9 November 2006. The meeting was organized by the Guatemalan Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare (MOH), with assistance from partners, and was attended by >100 people, including representatives from the 6 national programmes and from Lions Clubs’ members from all 6 endemic countries.