BBC News Online: World: Africa

Donors pledge to end river blindness

Up to a third of the victims lose their sight

The announcement came after a five-day meeting hosted by the World Bank and the US Agency for International Development in Washington.

The new Africa Program for Onchocerciasis Control (Apoc) builds on an existing initiative in west Africa, which consists in controlling the black fly that spreads the disease and distributing the antidote ivermectin.

Apoc comprises countries in central, eastern and southern Africa, where nearly 100 million people are at risk of contracting the disease.

The World Bank says 22 million people in this region are heavily infected.

Millions saved

River blindness is caused by a parasitic worm that develops in the human body, causing constant itchiness and eventually blindness.

Up to a third of those who contract the disease lose their sight.

The disease primarily affects African rural communities, which represent about 80% of Africa's population.

The west African programme, based in Burkina Faso, has been funded by donor contributions of $560m over a period of 27 years.

According to World Bank figures, it has protected 18 million children from ever contracting the disease, and freed 25 million hectares of arable land for resettlement and cultivation.

For the new initiative for eastern, central and southern Africa, the drug company Merck has pledged to donate the antidote commercially known as Mectizan in whatever quantity is needed, for as long as necessary.

The World Bank estimates that the new funds, which will be complemented over coming years to reach a total of $80m, will allow up to 60 million people to be treated annually by 2010.