18.9m saved from river blindness, says Fed Govt

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

The Federal Government has said that a record-breaking stop treatment decision has saved 18.9 million Nigerians in four states from river blindness. The states are: Imo, Abia, Enugu and Anambra.

While further stating that overall, Nigeria has stopped river blindness treatment for over 28 million persons in ten states, more than any other country in the world, it stressed that the country continues to register success in the fight against river blindness (onchocerciasis), a parasitic disease affecting 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Speaking during this year's World Neglected Tropical (NTDs) Day, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, noted that Nigeria has about 25 per cent of all NTDs in Africa, with millions of persons at risk of lymphatic filariasis (122 million), onchocerciasis (33 million), Schistosomiasis (20.8 million), soil transmitted helminths (29.4 million), trachoma (5.3 million), and Human African Trypanosomiasis (6.5 million) people.

He said: 'Substantial progress has been made in the past decade, evidenced by the Guinea Worm Disease eradication in 2013, onchocerciasis transmission elimination in Plateau and Nasarawa States in 2019, with imminent prospects of Kaduna, Kebbi and Zamfara States being free of the disease soon, leaving us with...