Publication: African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control 1995– 2015: Model-Estimated Health Impact and Cost
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2013-01-31
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2013-01-31
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Onchocerciasis causes a considerable disease burden in Africa, mainly through skin and eye disease. Since 1995, the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) has coordinated annual mass treatment with ivermectin in 16 countries. In this study, we estimate the health impact of APOC and the associated costs from a program perspective up to 2010 and provide expected trends up to 2015.
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Publication African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control 1995– 2015(Public Library of Science, 2014-06-05)Since 1995, the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) has coordinated mass treatment with ivermectin in 16 sub-Saharan countries (Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, North Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania) with the aim to control morbidity due to infection with Onchocerca volvulus, a filarial nematode. Recently, we predicted trends in prevalence of infection, visual impairment, blindness, and troublesome itch due to onchocerciasis in APOC countries for the period 1995–2015, based on extensive data on pre-control infection levels, population coverage of ivermectin mass treatment, and the association between infection and morbidity. 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