Country efforts supported by a major
public-private partnership - including The Carter Center/OEPA,
PAHO/WHO, and Merck & Co., Inc.’s Mectizan Donation Program -
bring the region closer to achieving the elimination goal by
2020
Mexico latest country to receive verification
of elimination by World Health Organization
The Carter Center, PAHO/WHO and the Mectizan Donation Program of
Merck & Co., Inc. known as MSD outside the United States and
Canada, are part of a coalition of organizations helping countries
in the Americas fight river blindness (onchocerciasis), and are
calling for a final push to definitively eliminate transmission of
the disabling disease from the Western Hemisphere.
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“Today, four of the six river blindness-endemic countries in the
Americas have eliminated transmission of the disease, but I am not
ready to celebrate until the task is complete,” said former U.S.
President Jimmy Carter, founder of The Carter Center, which has led
the campaign to wipe out river blindness in Latin America through
its Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA).
“Now is not the time to be complacent. It is the time to increase
our efforts.”
Onchocerciasis is a parasitic disease carried by biting black
flies that breed in fast-flowing rivers and streams. It can cause
intense itching and skin damage, nodules, eye damage, and
eventually blindness. The disease disproportionately affects
low-income communities in several Latin American countries and in
Africa, contributing to the cycle of poverty by reducing affected
individuals’ ability to work and learn. In the late 1990s, an
estimated 500,000 people in six endemic countries of the Americas
were at risk of onchocerciasis.
“River blindness can be controlled and even eliminated when
countries mobilize the necessary political will and receive strong
support from international partners,” said Dr. Carissa F. Etienne,
director of the Pan American Health Organization, Regional Office
for the Americas of the World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).
“Today we are calling for renewed resolve in our joint efforts so
we can finally rid our hemisphere of this disabling disease
forever.”
For more than two decades, elimination efforts undertaken by the
endemic countries and coordinated by the Carter Center’s
Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA) have
reduced the number of people at risk of onchocerciasis to just over
25,000. In 2013 and 2014, respectively, Colombia and Ecuador were
officially verified as having eliminated the disease.
Most recently, in July, Mexico became the third country to
receive verification by WHO of its elimination of onchocerciasis.
In addition, Guatemala has submitted a request for verification,
with a country visit anticipated for early 2016. This leaves only
one area with active transmission: the shared border region between
Brazil and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that is home to the
Yanomami indigenous people.
The linchpin of the elimination strategy—which is also being
used in Africa—is the mass administration of the antiparasitic drug
Mectizan® (ivermectin), which is produced and provided by Merck
free of charge through its Mectizan® Donation Program. Since its
beginning in 1987, the donation program has worked to ensure
twice-yearly mass treatment of affected communities and by 2006,
that goal had been achieved in all 13 endemic areas in the
Americas.
“We are humbled by the great work of the alliance of partners
and countries to protect future generations from this disease that
carries such devastating implications for people, families and
communities,” said Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, executive vice
president, Strategic Communications, Global Public Policy and
Population Health at Merck & Co., Inc. “Through the Mectizan®
Donation Program, our company has committed to donating this
medicine for as long as it’s needed, and we look forward to
celebrating the day when river blindness has been eliminated
worldwide.”
The core partners who have supported the ministries of health of
the affect countries include the Carter Center’s OEPA, PAHO/WHO,
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Merck
& Co. Inc.’s Mectizan Donation Program, and a host of
international partners, foundations, universities, and
individuals.
The final push to eliminate onchocerciasis from the
Brazil-Venezuela border area represents a major challenge because
of the dispersed and migratory nature of the Yanomami population,
who live in small communities in the dense, nearly inaccessible
terrain of the deep Amazon rainforest and mountains. The ministries
of health of Brazil and Venezuela are working with The Carter
Center/OEPA, PAHO/WHO, and other partners to ensure the necessary
treatment is delivered to the Yanomami people to meet the goal of
eliminating onchocerciasis from the area—and therefore from the
Americas as a whole—by 2020.
About PAHO
Established in 1902, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
is the world’s oldest international public health organization and
works with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health
and quality of life of their peoples. PAHO serves as the Regional
Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Visit www.paho.org | Follow on social media: Twitter–English,
Twitter– Spanish, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Linkedin.
About The Carter Center and OEPA
A not-for-profit, non-governmental organization, The Carter
Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 80
countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human
rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and
improving mental health care. The Center was founded in 1982 by
former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in
partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health
worldwide. Launched in 1993 with funding from the River Blindness
Foundation and absorbed by the Carter Center in 1996, the Center’s
OEPA has played a key role in assisting ministries of health of the
affected Latin American countries to eliminate transmission of
onchocerciasis within their borders. The Carter Center has
continued to pioneer multiple disease elimination approaches in
Africa and Latin America. Visit www.CarterCenter.org | Follow on
social media: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, and
Instagram @TheCarterCenter
About Merck & Co. Inc and the Mectizan® Donation
Program
Today's Merck (NYSE:MRK), is a global health care leader working
to help the world be well. Merck is known as MSD outside the United
States and Canada. Through its prescription medicines, vaccines,
biologic therapies, and animal health products, Merck works with
customers and operates in more than 140 countries to deliver
innovative health solutions. Merck also demonstrates its commitment
to increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies,
programs and partnerships. For more information, visit
www.merck.com. | Connect with Merck on
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
In October 1987, Merck announced it would donate the medication
Mectizan® to all who need it for as long as necessary until
onchocerciasis is eliminated as a public health problem. The
Mectizan® Donation Program reaches more than 150 million people
annually. In Latin America, since 1989, more than 13 million
treatments of donated Mectizan® have been delivered by community
health workers and non-governmental organizations.
www.mectizan.org
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150929006325/en/
Media:PAHOLeticia Linn,
202-974-3440Linnl@paho.orgorThe Carter
Center/OEPAEmily Staub,
404-420-5126Emily.Staub@cartercenter.orgorMerck
& Co, Inc. (known and MSD outside of the United States and
Canada)Veronica Trulin, On-site,
908-656-5590Veronica.trulin@merck.comorLainie
Keller, Kenilworth , NJ, 908-236-5036M: +1
908-406-1459Lainie.keller@merck.com
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