The Global Onchocerciasis Network for Elimination (GONE) held its first in person meeting on 1st and 2nd November 2023 in Senegal.
- On 30 January 2023, the WHO, Member States and partners, launched GONE to accelerate progress towards onchocerciasis targets set in the 2030 NTD road map.
- GONE provides a platform for endemic countries, civil society organizations and individuals to share experiences and challenges, identify gaps and best practices, and strengthen existing partnerships and integration along the path to achieving the 2030 road map targets.
About Onchocerciasis
- Onchocerciasis – or “river blindness” – is a parasitic disease caused by the filarial worm Onchocerca volvulus transmitted by repeated bites of infected blackflies (Simulium spp.).
- These blackflies breed along fast-flowing rivers and streams, close to remote villages located near fertile land where people rely on agriculture.
- Onchocerciasis is an eye and skin disease.
- Symptoms are caused by the microfilariae, which move around the human body in the subcutaneous tissue and induce intense inflammatory responses when they die.
- Infected people may show symptoms such as severe itching and various skin changes. Onchocerciasis occurs mainly in tropical areas.
- More than 99% of infected people live in 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Onchocerciasis is also transmitted in the Yanomami area of Brazil and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) as well as in Yemen.
