Human onchocerciasis (river blindness) occurs in 13 foci distributed among six countries in
Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela), where about
500,000 people are considered at risk. An effort to eliminate the disease from the region was
launched in response to a specific resolution adopted by the PanAmerican Health
Organization (PAHO) in 1991: to eliminate onchocerciasis from the region, as a public-
health problem, by 2007. The effort took advantage of the donation of the drug Mectizan …

The decision in 1987 by the pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co. to provide
Mectizan®(ivermectin) free of charge to river blindness control programs has challenged the
international public health community to find effective ways to distribute the drug to rural
populations most affected by onchocerciasis. In the Americas, PAHO responded to that
challenge by calling for the elimination of all morbidity from onchocerciasis from the Region
by the year 2007 through mass distribution of ivermectin. Since 1991, a multinational …