- What begins with a parasitic
infection spread by the bites
of black flies living near fast.
Flowing rivers can lead to
onco psychiatrists known
as river blindness For centuries,
people living across Africa
and later Latin America are plagued by one
of the toughest diseases
in history to overcome.
By the mid 1970s as river
blindness ravaged outta control,
the Onco Schisis control
program was formed to try
and put an end to the disease spearheaded
by the United Nations with
bilateral funding agencies,
a campaign of intensive aerial
larva society was rolled out
across West Africa.
However, the strategy proved
to be ineffective in
rainforest areas, too costly
and was eventually abandoned.
It was in 1978 that Merck and Co Inc.
Scientist, Dr. William Campbell,
suggested a breakthrough treatment
for river blindness using
a common anti parasitic
drug ivermectin.
Following successful clinical trials,
the human formulation
was developed in 1987,
taken in a single dose once a year,
it alleviated the symptoms of the disease.
And so Meza was born.
Later that year, Merck made
the unprecedented decision
to donate Meza as much as
needed for as long as needed.
Becoming the first company in history.
To make a commitment to this
scale, distributing millions
of treatments requires a
complex infrastructure.
Non-governmental organizations, the OCP
and Local Ministries of
Health, formed mobile teams
to distribute the medicine
to the most heavily affected areas.
In 1992, onco psis elimination program
for the Americas extended the reach
of Meza distribution to another continent.
By 1995, the World Health
Organization, the World Bank
and the donor community
formed the African program
for onco psis control
to expand distribution
of meza across Africa,
helping nations take ownership
of the control effort and join forces.
Armies of volunteers
were trained under this
community led model.
Distribution of Meza rapidly
scaled up The success
of mechan distribution for
river blindness inspired efforts
to address another
neglected tropical disease,
lymphatic psoriasis.
It was discovered that
the combination of mechan
with another anti parasitic
drug albendazole donated
by GSK proved to be highly
effective in eliminating lf.
And so in 1988, the mandate of the Mear
and donation program was expanded
to include both diseases.
All the hard work started
to pay off in the Americas
as Columbia became the first country
to eliminate river blindness.
This remarkable achievement
proved the disease can be
eliminated permanently.
Several countries in Africa,
and the Yemen soon follow suit
when LF is also eliminated.
In 2021,
the World Health Organization
launched a roadmap taking
what was a control program
into a global effort
to eliminate transmission
of both river blindness
and atic psoriasis amongst other diseases.
After 35 years, 4.8
billion treatments donated
and 25 countries protected.
Meck and Co Inc. CEO Rob
Davis recently said of Meza,
we continue to make the
commitment to provide meza free
as long as it's needed.
Only with sustained commitment
and growing partnerships can we hope
to finally break the
chain of transmission so
that one day river blindness
and emphatic psoriasis can
be diseases of the past.