NIGERIA: Tens of thousands infected by river blindness

ABIDJAN, 25 April (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of people in over 700 villages
in Kano State, northern Nigeria, may be infected by onchocerciasis (river
blindness), The Guardian newspaper reported the state governor, Rabiu Musa
Kwankwaso, as saying at the weekend.

Speaking at the National Polio and River Blindness Eradication campaign in
Tudun Wada local council, Kwankwaso, who was represented by his deputy,
Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was quoted as saying that some 18 local governments
had been affected and federal government efforts to eradicate the disease
would have to be doubled.

Meanwhile, some 480,000 rural dwellers in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria,
were reported recently as being infected with river blindness while another
40,000 had been affected in varying degrees. The coordinator of the state
programme on river blindness, Alhaji Bukar Galadima, said that the federal
and state governments were collaborating with the World Health Organisation,
the African Programme on Onchocerciasis Control and Helen Keller
International, to control the disease.

River blindness, which is transmitted by the black fly, causes inflammation
of the skin and can lead to blindness.

[ENDS]

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