Length-weight relationship of fishes from Anambra ... - Zoo-unn.org

UBACHUKWU, Patience Obiageliarea of 1.3 million km 2 . The programme isdesigned to benefit over 15 million rural WestAfricans (Nwoke, 1992). The disease has beeneliminated as a public health problem from theOCP countries through extensive insecticidespraying of the exposed vector breeding sites inthe region, mostly from helicopters. Remme etal. (1990) reported that after 12-14 years ofvector control, the community microfilarial load(CMFL) was close to zero in all villages theysurveyed. Today, some 1.5 million people whowere once infected no longer have any trace ofthe disease. About 10 million children born inthe operational area since the programmebegan are now free of any risk of contractingthe disease. Dadzie et al. (1990) reported areduction of the incidence of onchocercalblindness by 40% resulting in lack ofonchocercal blindness in children below the ageof 20 years. To complement vector controlactivities, the drug ivermectin is distributed freeof charge to more than 2.2 million people in theoperational area (De Sole and Remme, 1991;WHO, 1996). Since the WHO OnchocerciasisControl Programme was launched in 1974 inWest Africa, more than 1.7 million additionalyears of productive labour have becomeavailable as a result of control measures. Anadditional 25 million hectares of usable landcould be made available for agriculturalproduction. This could feed 17 million morepeople (WHO, 1996).A programme to eliminateonchocerciasis as a public health problem in theAmericas is being coordinated by the PanAmerican Health Organization with the supportof non-governmental development organizations(NGDO) and the Inter-American DevelopmentBank (IADB). Concerted efforts had been madeto control the disease in areas where it isendemic through co-ordination of ivermectindistribution activities. However, a conferenceheld in 1991 resulted in the launching of aregional onchocerciasis elimination programme(Onchocerciasis Eradication Programme of theAmericas, OEPA) to reduce morbidity throughthe mass distribution of ivermectin in Brazil,Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico andVenezuela (WHO, 1996; Etya’ale, 1998).WHO in 1995 launched a newprogramme - the African Programme forOnchocerciasis Control (APOC) - in close cooperationwith the World Bank, thegovernments of 16 participating countries wherethe disease exists but which were not coveredby the earlier programme, donors and nongovernmentaldevelopment organizations(NGDO) (WHO, 1996; Benton, 1998). This newprogramme, which became operational inJanuary 1996, aims to control and eventuallyeliminate the disease as a public health hazardfrom the entire African continent by the year2002. APOC will directly benefit more than 15million people infected with onchocerciasis andnearly 100 million people estimated to be at riskin these 16 participating countries (WHO, 1996).Fortunately, Nigeria is one of the beneficiariesof this programme and Uzo-Uwani LocalGovernment Area happens to be one of theendemic areas benefitting from the programmeMATERIALS AND METHODSThe Study Area and Population: The studyarea was Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area ofEnugu State, Nigeria. It consists of 16communities divided into four health districtsnamely:1. Umulokpa district consisting of Umulokpa(local government headquarters),Nkume, Adaba and Ukpata2. Nkpologu district made up of Nkpologu,Uvuru and Akpugo3. Ogboli district consisting of Adani, Asaba,Igga, Ojjor and Ogurugu4. Nimbo district comprising Nimbo, Abbi,Ugbene-Ajima, and Nrobo.Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area lies betweenlongitude 6 0 30 / and 7 0 00 / East and betweenlatitude 6 0 55 / and 7 0 15 / North. It belongs tothe forest-savanna-mosaic vegetation zone ofNigeria (Crosskey, 1981). The vegetation is amixture of tall grasses and shrubs with few talltrees. This local government area is generallynot hilly when compared with the neighbouringNsukka, Igbo Etiti and Udi Local GovernmentAreas of Enugu State. Uzo-Uwani LocalGovernment Area, like other parts of EnuguState, has in general 7 months of rainy season(April to October) with a break aroundJuly/August and 5 months of dry season(November to March) with harmattan occurringsometime within the dry season months. Theweather is usually hot during the dry seasonespecially in Ogboli district. Uzo-Uwani LocalGovernment Area is traversed by many riversand streams. These include River Adada , RiverObina, River Duu, River Eshi and Anambra Riverin addition to many streams. These rivers andstreams belong to the Anambra River System,which had been identified by Crosskey(Crosskey, 1981) as part of the breeding sitesfor Simulium damnosum (blackfly) in EasternNigeria.