Report from the Inter-American Conference on Onchocerciasis, November 2007

Overview

Onchocerciasis (river blindness) is caused by the vector-borne parasite Onchocerca volvulus and is endemic in 6 countries in WHO’s Region of the Americas: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela. The Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas is a regional initiative with the goals of using the effective oral microfi laricide ivermectin (Mectizan, donated by Merck & Co.) to eliminate new ocular morbidity from onchocerciasis and to interrupt transmission of the parasite in the 13 endemic foci in the Region of the Americas. The elimination partnership includes the 6 endemic countries, the Pan American Health Organization, WHO, the Carter Center, Lions Clubs International, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Mectizan Donation Program and Merck & Co.

The seventeenth annual Inter-American Conference on Onchocerciasis was held in Quito, Ecuador on 15–17 November 2007. More than 80 people attended; the meeting was organized by the Ministry of Health of Ecuador and members of local Lions Clubs. The theme of the meet-ing was the beginning of a new era; this theme was chosen based on conclusions made by the steering com-mittee of the elimination programme that onchocerciasis transmission has been interrupted in 4 foci in 3 countries (Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico) and in a subfocus in Ecuador.