Socioeconomic impacts of elimination of onchocerciasis in Abu-Hamed focus, northern Sudan: lessons after elimination

Abstract

Objectives Onchocerciasis is one of the most devastating neglected tropical diseases and it is mostly prevalent in Africa. The disease has important heavy social and economic burdens on the infected populations including low productivity, unemployment, social isolation, and stigma. A cross-sectional study was implemented using a well-established questionnaire to investigate the socio-economic impacts of Onchocerciasis elimination in Abu-Hamed, River Nile State, Sudan in 2015; 512 participants in ten affected communities were interviewed. Results Our findings revealed that these communities are recovering from the social and economic burden of the diseases. Ninety percent of the research participants reported general satisfaction about elimination of the disease in their community, 48.3% of them attended secondary school or university. Only 0.6% reported unemployment. Also, 25.3% and 24.7% of the participants were workers and farmers respectively. Except about the vector biting and nuisance, the majority of the respondents (90%) had no complain related to the disease after the elimination. Also, 90.5% of the participants reported either stable or increase in their work performance during the last 12 months. About 93.8% of the respondents were engaged in normal daily life activities and involved in happy events like marriage and giving birth during the last 12 months.

The first laboratory-confirmed imported infections of SARS-CoV-2 in Sudan

“…In addition, most of Sudanese society cannot adhere to the preventive measures, particularly to stay home, because of their limited financial resources. 10 Additional risk is resulting from the abundance of locally displaced persons, refugees and poor people in general. 12 , 14 , 15 These people rely heavily on daily work to secure their needs of food and other essentials.…”

“… 12 , 14 , 15 These people rely heavily on daily work to secure their needs of food and other essentials. 10 Furthermore, they have poor sanitation and personal hygiene, further increasing their risk of COVID-19. 8 , 17 Nonetheless, the Sudanese government advised residents of Khartoum State to secure their essential needs before the implementation of a 24-h lockdown order issued starting on 18 April.…”

“…5 Health systems in Africa are typically very weak, underresourced, poorly equipped and constantly struggling with epidemics of several other infectious diseases. 7 The health system in Sudan is limited 8 and suffers a heavy burden of infectious diseases, including parasitic diseases like malaria, leishmaniasis 9 and onchocerciasis, 10 and arboviral diseases like Chikungunya virus, 11 dengue and rift valley fever, 12 , 13 and their frequent epidemics. 14 , 15 However, with emergency support from the WHO, the capacity of several African countries, including Sudan, to identify, test and isolate COVID-19 cases was somewhat improved.…”

Epidemics of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in Sudan between 2010 and 2020

“…In addition to the location of Sudan, as a tropical country in an epidemic-prone region [ 18 ], it is endemic with several infectious diseases, including a wide range of vector-borne diseases such as malaria [ 19 ], Leishmaniasis [ 20 ], onchocerciasis [ 21 ], and many arboviral diseases [ 4 ]. This co-endemicity and co-transmission imposes a serious diagnostic and overall prevention and control challenge for the limited health system of the country [ 4 ].…”

Blood meal profile and positivity rate with malaria parasites among different malaria vectors in Sudan

“…Feeding on a different host and the host preference of the diseases’ vectors constitute a significant challenge for transmitting zoonotic diseases that infect both human and animal populations. These include leishmaniasis, onchocerciasis, and arboviral diseases [ 3 – 6 ]. Thus, a broader range of hosts’ availability as sources of blood meals contributes substantially to the diseases’ transmission [ 2 ].…”