15 years of APOC - World Health Organization

15 years of APOC
Partnering with APOC MDP
Although MDP is guided by the Mectizan Expert Committee
(MEC) which has a much wider mandate than donation to
the APOC countries, cooperation and collaboration has
always been very productive and highly successful. MDP has
a permanent seat on the
TCC, and APOC attends
the MEC.
A perfect example of
APOC/MDP collaboration
is the approach to
distributing Mectizan in
areas where Severe
Adverse Events (SAEs)
have occurred related to
loiasis. As a TCC
member I remember
leading a team on a joint
TCC/MDP field mission
to Cameroon when the
pathology was still
poorly understood. We
worked together to
investigate possible co-factors leading to these SAEs and
developed the MEC/ TCC guidelines for treatment in areas
where loiasis and onchocerciasis are co-endemic.
Following evidence that onchocerciasis could be eliminated
in certain areas of Africa, there has been an increasing
emphasis on a potential paradigm shift from control to
elimination in Africa. Once this had been established, MDP
was delighted to partner with APOC and the Gates
Foundation to sponsor an informal consultation on
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elimination in Africa which has now led to a whole new
approach in the older and better performing APOC projects
where elimination of transmission of the disease may well
be possible. This new approach which will involve
transmission zones
instead of the old hyper,
meso and hypo endemic
zones, and may require
some changes in
treatment strategies in
the future brings a
completely new aspect to
the disease in Africa.
15 years of APOC has
seen a remarkable
development in
onchocerciasis control in
Africa. Without APOC,
MDP would have
struggled to get
Mectizan® out to the
people who need it.
There may still be people
in remote or difficult areas that are not getting the Mectizan
they need but for the vast majority, MDP certainly would not
have succeeded to get the medicine out there. As we move
slowly towards eliminating the disease, MDP looks forward
to the continued partnership with APOC to accomplish the
task ahead of us all.
A word from Merck
"The African Program for
Onchocerciasis Control has helped
tens of millions of people fight river
blindness by enabling delivery of
Mectizan in Africa. The program's
focus in building human resource
capacity is creating a sustainable,
healthy future. Merck congratulates
the staff, partners and supporters of
APOC on its 15th anniversary, and we
look forward to continuing our
collaboration in the years to come."
Richard T. Clark, Chairman, Merck
Dr Adrian Hopkins is Director of
the Mectizan Donation Programme
African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control