The Government has declared that an estimated six million Ugandans are no longer at risk of onchocerciasis (commonly known as River Blindness) including about two million people living in the Lake Victoria Nile focus areas.

The health ministry declared the Nyagak-Bondi focus, which is made up of the districts of Arua, Madi-Okollo, Nebbi and Zombo, free of River Blindness transmission. 

The activity has also stopped treatment for one million people in the seven southern districts and one city in the Madi Mid North focus (Amuru, Gulu, Omoro, Nwoya, Lira, Oyam, Pader and Gulu city).

The announcement was made during the 16th meeting of the Uganda Onchocerciasis Elimination Expert Advisory Committee (UOEEAC) of the health ministry that was concluded at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel on August 10, 2023.

River blindness is a devastating health problem that affected 4.9 million people in 43 districts in Uganda.

The disease is transmitted by black flies that breed in fast-flowing rivers. It causes severe eye and skin diseases that may result in blindness.

Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng, who released the statement, said the co-operation of neighbouring countries (the DR Congo and South Sudan) continues to promote cross-border river blindness activities.

"Uganda continues to register success in the fight against river blindness through the effort of the ministry of health's national onchocerciasis elimination programme and with support from partners," Aceng said.

How is onchocerciasis spread?

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the disease spreads by the bite of an infectious blackfly. 

When a blackfly bites a person who has onchocerciasis, microscopic worm larvae (called microfilariae) in the infected person’s skin are ingested by the blackfly. The larvae develop over approximately one week in the fly to a stage that is infectious to humans. 

An infectious blackfly will typically drop larvae when biting a person. The larvae then penetrate the skin to infect the person. 

Because the worms reproduce only in humans, but need to complete some of their development inside the blackfly, the intensity of human infection (number of worms in an individual) is related to the number of infectious bites sustained by an individual. 

Blindness is usually seen in the setting of longstanding and intense infection.