River blindness and Lymphatic filariasis national taskforce meeting
Announcing expansion of River blindness and Lymphatic filariasis intervention program Sudan
Khartoum:HaffiyaElyas
Federal Ministry of Health and Carter Centre , River blindness and Lymphatic filariasis elimination program in Sudan organized the first LF and RP Taskforce meeting .
The meeting was participated by a high-level delegation from the Carter Center in Atlanta, led by Executive Director Baig Alexander, accompanied by a number of directors and assistants of health programs.
Director of the Carter Center in Sudan,Dr. Sarah Lavinia Fath Al-Rahman, announced the receipt of support from the Carter Center to eliminate lymphatic filariasis and river blindness in Sudan. Lavinia said during addressing the first LF and RP Taskforce meeting at Sl Salam Hotel , that the support began since last year, and added today we announce the existence of support for another 3 years to eradicate the disease from Sudan until 2030, adding that it is the first meeting of the National Committee to review and discuss a number of issues related to lymphatic and river blindness.
The Director of the Neglected Tropical Diseases Program at the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Abdullah, said that today’s meeting came to announce the expansion of support to eliminate together patients of the river blindness and lymphatic filariasis in Sudan, noting that this meeting came to follow up performance, progress made, and what can be corrected from interventions in Sudan, noting that a survey in 2017 identified the 65 localities affected by filariasis, adding that the disease is endemic in 14 states except the states of Gezira , Khartoum, Northern and River Nile.
Dr.Isam Mohamed Ali Zarrouk, Advisor of the Carter Center for the Program of the Elimination of River Blindness and Lymphatic Filaria Patients in Sudan, said that the meeting today came in the presence of a delegation from the presidency of the Carter Center in Atlanta, headed by the Executive Director, to announce the programs of combating river blindness and scaling lymphatic filaria with the full support of the Carter Center until the elimination of patients, in addition to participating in the meeting of the special committee to discuss the performance of the two programs during the last period, especially discussing the laboratory results of the focus of tippers, which the laboratory results proved to be free from the disease.
He said we hope that the elimination of the disease between Sudan and Ethiopia will be announced soon, describing it as an unprecedented achievement in the world.
Dr. Isam that Sudan conducted a survey of lymphatic filaria between the years (2010, 2005, 2002), and the results showed the spread of the disease in 65 localities in 14 states of Sudan, including Darfur states, where the disease is spread in 25 localities, and the number of vulnerable people in Sudan is estimated at about 9.7 million people, of whom 8.2 million people are eligible for treatment with mektzane and bendazole. The Federal Ministry of Health aims to eliminate lymphatic filariasis by 2028.