This is from The Economist:

…. Sierra Leone is doing better at beating back neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) than almost anywhere else in Africa. Fifteen years ago as much as half the population was infected with the worm that causes onchocerciasis, or river blindness. Many villagers in the south-east used to think it was perfectly normal for people to go blind after 30, says Mary Hodges, from Helen Keller International, a charity that works on blindness and malnutrition. Yet by 2017 only 2% of people carried the worm, and there had been no new cases recorded of people going blind from onchocerciasis in a decade. Elimination is expected by about 2022.

What is Sierra Leone’s secret? Apparently, it’s because a high initial disease burden made inaction not an option:

Paradoxically, one is the extraordinarily high prevalence of NTDs. Because the entire population was exposed to at least one NTD, the government made it a priority early on, says Dr Joseph Koroma, who managed its programme. And instead of dealing with these diseases separately, Sierra Leone tackles them all at once.

This is a big win for global public health and the Carter Center.

Here is a great read on how the Guinea worm was eliminated in Burkina Faso.

However, despite success stories like Sierra Leone, it is worth noting that the global fight against river blindness is being made harder by the fact that dogs are becoming the new carriers of Guinea worms.