Over 1.4 mln people receive treatment for onchocerciasis

Hawassa, November 18 (WIC) - Treatment for onchocerciasis was given to more than 1.4 million people in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples State, according to State’s Health Bureau.

Bureau Public Relations Expert, Yalew Abate, told WIC today that the treatment was provided to residents in 25 woredas and rural areas in Sheka, Kefa and Bench Maji zones beginning last July.

He said tablets that help prevent it for getting into a stage of total blindness were distributed among the public. The bureau offered the treatment with the financial support it obtained from health organizations.

He said various activities are also underway in the aforesaid woredas, including recruitment of volunteer health workers, to widen the treatment for onchocerciasis in the areas.

Onchocerciasis tends to occur in rural areas where people live close to rivers. It is transmitted by the bite of black flies and if not treated early, it causes blindness.