The present state of play

River blindness and LF are each debilitating ailments that may depart individuals unable to work, research or present for his or her households, resulting in poverty and stigma.

As of 2022, 288 million individuals have been vulnerable to LF, a illness that makes physique components swell and causes intermittent fevers and secondary infections. In the meantime, at the least 246 million individuals are vulnerable to river blindness, which causes agonising itching and disfiguring pores and skin situations, and may result in everlasting blindness.

However there was progress. Concerted international efforts to trace these ailments, and many years spent persistently following the beneficial World Well being Group (WHO) methods, imply 19 nations have already eradicated LF as a public well being drawback and 4 have stopped the transmission of river blindness. Within the Americas, river blindness has been eradicated in Colombia (2013), Ecuador (2014), Mexico (2015) and Guatemala (2016). We’re studying and making use of information gathered from these success tales.

Many individuals and organisations have supported this progress: from pharmaceutical corporations Merck & Co and GlaxoSmithKline, who’ve donated tens of millions of doses of remedy, to the well being employees and volunteers on the bottom who distribute the medication within the native communities they serve.

So far, Sightsavers has supported greater than 640 million therapies for river blindness and 587 million therapies for LF. As of 2022, we estimate that greater than 18.9 million individuals are now not vulnerable to river blindness and LF as a consequence of Sightsavers-supported therapies. The enlargement of the RLM Fund signifies that many extra individuals might be shielded from these ailments.