Hospitals in Cameroon are reporting a rise in cases of river blindness, a parasitic disease transmitted by bites from infected blackflies. In the Sa’a district, 74 kilometres north of the capital Yaoundé, 45‑year‑old Jean‑Christophe Onana says he has not regained his sight after two months of treatment by an African traditional healer. He believes he has been bewitched by enemies jealous of his cocoa farm’s abundant harvest last year. Aid workers, however, diagnose him with river blindness, a disease that accounts for 99 % of global cases and is especially prevalent in Africa.
The Ministry of Public Health notes that hospitals in Lekie, the administrative unit encompassing Sa’a, have recorded several hundred new cases in the past three months. The surge is linked to recent floods and the opening of new farmland near rivers, which attract settlers and create breeding sites for blackflies. Ophthalmologist Raoul Edgard Cheuteu, an aid worker in Sa’a, explains that humanitarian agencies and the Cameroonian government have agreed to equip the Sa’a district hospital and numerous others in affected areas with standard diagnostic tests for the disease. He attributes the increase to the district’s many rivers, which serve as blackfly breeding grounds.
Aid workers are educating residents of riverside villages that river blindness is not a spell or divine punishment but an infection that can be treated in hospitals. Despite these efforts, Cameroon reports that youths are abandoning remote villages where the disease, which affects the skin and eyes, is spreading. Beyond Sa’a, several hundred hospitals in the Centre, East and South regions have reported at least 6 000 new infections over three months. The true number may be higher, as 70 % of Cameroonians seek traditional medicine, making data collection difficult.
The Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) collaborates with the Ministry of Public Health to accelerate treatment for this neglected tropical disease. Dr Aissatou Diawara, GLIDE’s senior official, says about 6 million of Cameroon’s 26 million inhabitants are already infected. “Despite two decades of annual community‑directed ivermectin treatment, confirmed cases of onchocerciasis persist in 113 health districts previously classified as hyper‑endemic,” she wrote via a messaging app. “Therefore, a test‑and‑treat strategy and community engagement are essential to eliminate onchocerciasis in Cameroon.”
Diawara explains that blackflies breed along fast‑flowing rivers and streams near remote, agricultural villages. Humans contract the disease through repeated bites, leading to severe itching, disfiguring skin conditions, and visual impairment, including permanent blindness. The United Nations notes that onchocerciasis occurs mainly in tropical areas, with more than 99 % of cases in 31 sub‑Saharan African countries.
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