The River Blindness Elimination Commitment in Nigeria

On March 26, 2014, an esteemed team of epidemiologists, entomologists and public health advocates from The Carter Center (TCC) in Atlanta, Georgia U.S.A. paid a courtesy visit to Sir Emeka Offor, the founder and the Executive Vice Chairman of Chrome Group, at the Group’s headquarters in Abuja. They were there to discuss River blindness, also known as Onchocerciasis, as Sir Emeka is one of the biggest supporters in the fight and eliminate the disease. Onchocerciasis in Nigeria has become the most endemic disease in Nigeria, which according to the Carter Center, accounts for as much as 40 per cent of the global disease burden. The Center estimates that up to 27 million Nigerians live with the disease in different parts of the 32 state and need treatment for disease. In 2012, the Center provided health education and Mectizan treatments to more than 6 million people in more than 8,100 villages. This initiative has however received quite an appreciable number of supports in the last couple of years from organisations and NGOs based in Nigeria through partnership with the Center in the fight against Onchocerciasis.