A regional program, launched in 1992, working to eliminate morbidity and interrupt transmission of onchocerciasis, or river blindness, across six endemic countries of the Americas: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela. Headquartered in Guatemala, the program coordinates the ministries of health of the six countries with the Pan American Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and its central strategy is mass drug administration of ivermectin, donated by Merck as Mectizan, given twice or four times a year to reach at least 85 percent of eligible populations. Between 1989 and 2016 the program delivered more than 11.7 million ivermectin treatments and eliminated transmission in 11 of the region's 13 known transmission foci.
Facts
Launch YearSourced to the subject's own account Program StatusSourced to the subject's own accountActive, near completion 1 Sponsoring BodySourced to the subject's own accountPan American Health Organization (PAHO) 1 Target PopulationSourced to the subject's own accountPopulations at risk of onchocerciasis in Latin America, including the Yanomami indigenous people on the Brazil-Venezuela border 1 Health GoalSourced to the subject's own accountEliminate onchocerciasis (river blindness) transmission in the Americas through mass administration of ivermectin 1 Geographic ScopeSourced to the subject's own accountThe Americas (Latin America) 1 Measured ResultsSourced to the subject's own accountColombia, Ecuador and Guatemala received verification of onchocerciasis elimination in 2013, 2015 and 2016 respectively 1 Classification
Program KindSourced to the subject's own account Connections
Associated With
Americas-region onchocerciasis elimination program operating under PAHO
Delivers Practice
Entity-backed identity for the program-kind enum value this public health program already carries, resolved to a health practice by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The program-kind fact itself stays on the program unchanged.
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Onchocerciasis
WikipediaElimination section, OEPA founding
The Onchocerciasis Elimination Programme for the Americas (OEPA) was launched in 1992.
Elimination section, PAHO announcement
On July 29, 2013, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced that after 16 years of efforts, Colombia had become the first country in the world to eliminate onchocerciasis.
Elimination section, remaining transmission area
In September 2015, the OEPA announced that onchocerciasis only remained in a remote region on the border of Brazil and Venezuela.
Elimination section, Yanomami
The area is home to the Yanomami indigenous people.
Elimination section, method
The key factor in elimination was mass administration of ivermectin.
Elimination section, verified countries
Countries that received verification of elimination were Colombia in 2013, Ecuador in 2015, and Guatemala in 2016.
Elimination section, program status as of 2015
In September 2015, the OEPA announced that onchocerciasis only remained in a remote region on the border of Brazil and Venezuela.
Elimination section, abbreviation introduced
The Onchocerciasis Elimination Programme for the Americas (OEPA) was launched in 1992.
Elimination section, 2012 projection
The OEPA projection was that the disease would be eliminated from all remaining countries in the Americas by 2012.
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