title: Nigeria's war on terror: fighting dracunculiasis, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, and schistosomiasis at the grassroots.
abstract: Africa's populous country, Nigeria, contains or contained more cases of dracunculiasis, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, and schistosomiasis than any other African nation and ranks or ranked first (dracunculiasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis) or third (lymphatic filariasis) in the world for the same diseases. After beginning village-based interventions against dracunculiasis 20 years ago and confronting onchocerciasis a few years later, Nigeria has nearly eliminated dracunculiasis and has provided annual mass drug administration for onchocerciasis to over three quarters of that at-risk population for 7 years. With assistance from The Carter Center, Nigeria began treating lymphatic filariasis and schistosomiasis in two and three states, respectively, over the past decade, while conducting pioneering operational research as a basis for scaling up interventions against those diseases, for which much more remains to be done. This paper describes the status of Nigeria's struggles against these four neglected tropical diseases and discusses challenges and plans for the future.
authors.affiliation: Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, Nigeria; The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia; The Carter Center, Jos, Nigeria. ngonjep@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Ngozi A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Njepuome
authors.forename: Donald R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Hopkins
authors.forename: Frank O
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: Ifeoma N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Anagbogu
authors.forename: Patricia Ogbu
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Pearce
authors.forename: Mustapha Muhammed
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Jibril
authors.forename: Chukwu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Okoronkwo
authors.forename: Olayemi T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Sofola
authors.forename: P Craig
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Withers
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Tiben
authors.forename: Emmanuel S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Miri
authors.forename: Abel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eigege
authors.forename: Emmanuel C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Emukah
authors.forename: Ben C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Nwobi
authors.forename: Jonathan Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Jiya
mesh_terms: D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004320:Dracunculiasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004605:Elephantiasis, Filarial / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D009855:Onchocerciasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011634:Public Health; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013997:Time Factors; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D000871:Anthelmintics