Mectizan fights river blindness, a disease that is transmitted by tickling mosquitoes. Those mosquitoes mainly occur with fast -flowing rivers. The disease can cause blindness. The drug is also effective against the elephant disease, which is caused by parasitic worms and can lead to excessive and painful swelling in limbs.
Thanks to the Haarlem pills, river blindness is no longer found in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Niger. The elephant disease has since been overcome in 19 -affected countries, says Yao Sodahlon. He is the international head of the donation program. “We are extremely grateful to the team in Haarlem for their boundless commitment to deliver the drug as long and as much as needed.”
750,000,000 pills a year
The aim of the donation program is to donate another 750 million pills a year in the coming two years. Sodahlon works together with the World Health Organization WHO, among others. The fact that the United States have withdrawn from the WHO under President Trump is a concern for the doctor, who works from the US state of Georgia. Sodahlon therefore hopes that Trump will see how important the organization is for public health worldwide.
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