The Carter Center Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program
Since 1998, The Carter Center has been the largest nongovernmental organization
assisting the national lymphatic filariasis program in Nigeria—Africa's most
lymphatic filariasis-endemic country. Through health education and communitydelivered-treatments, the Center is working to show that transmission of lymphatic
filariasis can be interrupted on a large scale in Nigeria with mass community drug
treatment and health education.
These control efforts stem from conclusions of the Carter Center's International
Task Force for Disease Eradication (ITFDE), which named lymphatic filariasis one
of only seven infectious diseases with the potential to be eradicated. Read the
ITFDE summary (PDF).
New equipment for medical technicians in Haiti helps advance the nation's joint effort with the
Dominican Republic to rid both nations of lymphatic filariasis and malaria. (Photograph courtesy of
The Carter Center.)
In September 2008, The Carter Center, in partnership with the Dominican Republic
and Haiti, launched a historic 18-month initiative to help the two countries and their
other partners accelerate the elimination of two devastating mosquito-borne
infections—malaria and lymphatic filariasis—from Hispaniola. The initiative stems
from a 2006 recommendation of the Carter Center's International Task Force for
Disease Eradication that it is "technically feasible, medically desirable, and would
be economically beneficial," to eliminate these two parasitic diseases from
Hispaniola.
Leading Cause of Disability
A mosquito-borne disease, lymphatic filariasis is a leading cause worldwide of
permanent and long-term disability, with 120 million people infected and 1.1 billion
at risk of infection. In its severest form, lymphatic filariasis leads to elephantiasis, a
crippling condition in which the limbs often are grotesquely swollen or enlarged.
In communities endemic for this disease, as many as 10 per cent of women can be
affected with swollen limbs, and 50 percent of men can suffer from mutilating
genital disease. These conditions have a devastating effect on the quality of life of
victims, impacting them not only physically, but also emotionally and economically.
Millions of Treatments Provided
The drug Mectizan®, donated by Merck & Co., Inc. and used to fight river
blindness, also helps prevent lymphatic filariasis when combined with the medicine
albendazole, donated by GlaxoSmithKline. Distribution of long-lasting insecticidal
bed nets is included in program efforts, helping to protect pregnant women and
children who cannot take drug treatment.
As a result of Carter Center-assisted efforts in Nigeria, more than 26 million
treatments have been provided, and mosquito infection rates have dropped by
nearly 90 per cent so far.
In 2009, the program in Nigeria experienced a major breakthrough when
transmission of lymphatic filariasis was halted in 10 of the 30 local government
areas where the Center works.
This important achievement demonstrated that elimination is possible in the nation,
although there are still areas where transmission has not been broken.
Disease Program Integration
To further pioneer integration opportunities and reach communities more efficiently,
The Carter Center and Nigerian health officials currently integrate lymphatic
filariasis, river blindness, and schistosomiasis activities in Plateau and Nasarawa
states.
In Ethiopia, the Center is integrating lymphatic filariasis mass drug administration
with river blindness control in the Gambella region after identifying lymphatic
filariasis in communities where we already were working.
The success of the joint programs has demonstrated that one community-based
health education and drug distribution system can support the control and
elimination of multiple diseases.
The article, images and video are courtesy of The Carter Center.
Notes for publication:
High resolution images attached. Video in DVD.
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Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program
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