…As 16th JAC Forum opens in Abuja

BySolaOgundipe
NIGERIA today takes a decisive step closer towards elimination of River Blindness as President Goodluck Jonathan, opens a three-day Joint Action Forum (JAF), governing board meeting of the World Health Organisation African Programme for Onchocerciasis (River blindness) Control (WHO/APOC) in Abuja.

A statement from the World Health Organisation noted that the 16th session of the JAF is being hosted by Nigeria under the theme “Join Forces to Make River Blindness History” is a double anniversary for the world health community which in 1995 set up APOC to eliminate river blindness as a public health and socio-economic problem from Africa.

It is the first time  Nigeria is hosting the annual session of the Forum. Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu and Health Ministers from 18 other participating countries as well as representatives of 20 donor countries and institutions are expected at the forum.

The Health Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HEWAN) kicked off its week-long series of activities last Saturday with a walk with the theme “Walk For Your Life”. The walk which took off from Opic Plaza, Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way, Ikeja, Lagos, and terminated at the Lagos University teaching Hospita (LASUTH), was aimed at emcouraging Nigerians to develop the culture of walking as a daily exercise that is essential for good health.

Fifteen non-governmental development partners, UN agencies including UNICEF, UNDP the World Bank, as well as the African Development Bank and the pharmaceutical company, Merck & Co Inc. are also attending the crucial meeting.

Representatives from  11 former Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa (OCP) countries, including four receiving funding from APOC have also been invited.

The meeting of Health Ministers, donors and partners to tackle the river blindness scourge in Africa  is marking its 15-year anniversary which also coincides with 10 years after the declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by World leaders at the UN summit of September 2000 in New York.

It was gathered that substantial achievements have been made during the past 15 years 86 per cent reduction in severe itching, 33 per cent reduction in prevalence of the disease, prevention of more than 500 000 cases of blindness and an estimated Economic Rate of Return of 17 per cent on invested funds), WHO/APOC continues to enjoy sustained donor support.

With five years to the projected attainment of the MDGs by 2015, the JAF session in Nigeria presents health Ministers with an opportunity to chart a way forward towards the elimination of river blindness as one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases, which cause reduction in agricultural productivity, exacerbate poverty and impede development.

River blindness, a parasitic worm disease transmitted to humans by black flies that breed in fast-flowing rivers and in valleys in the remote communities inhabited by the poor, is endemic in 30 African countries where 120 million people are at risk, including an estimated 31 million people in 31 of Nigeria’s 36 States as well as the Federal Capital Territory.

Since 1997, Nigeria’s Federal, State and local government authorities in collaboration with international partners, including WHO/APOC and NGDOs have been controlling the disease using the programme’s cost-effective Community-Directed Treatment with Ivermectin (CDTI), now treating more than 26 million people annually and thereby reducing the prevalence of the disease in the country and with the possibility of eliminating it in some foci.

Encouraged by the tremendous results, WHO/APOC and partners are promoting the wide use of the CDI strategy, which does not only empower communities to take care of their own health but also strengthens health systems.

Research results have indeed shown that the CDI strategy, as a key element of Primary Health Care can contribute to the attainment of the health-related MDGs, by serving as a tool for the delivery of multiple health interventions, such as home management of malaria, distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets, Praziquantel, Albendazole and vitamin A supplementation.

The 15th JAF session was hosted by a donor institution, the African Development Bank, in line with the APOC protocol that stipulates the rotation of the hosting of the governing board meeting.