08.08.2023 – 18:31
cbm Christoffel-Blindenmission eV
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ContributiontoRiverblindness.mp3
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Bensheim (ots)
With us, the buzzing of mosquitoes is annoying in summer. But in other countries it can be dangerous. Because mosquitoes can transmit serious diseases. At least travelers from the tropics are familiar with malaria. River blindness, for example, is less well known. It is one of the so-called neglected tropical diseases. These diseases are favored by poverty. Because poor people in remote regions usually have no money to afford medical treatment. To combat river blindness, the Christoffel Blindenmission (CBM) distributes medication – for example in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Who doesn’t know the annoying whirring of mosquitoes that robs you of sleep at night in summer? Elsewhere, however, mosquitoes can transmit dangerous diseases, such as river blindness. Drugs prevent those affected from losing their sight and river blindness from spreading further. But the disease almost always affects poor people in remote, tropical regions. Help is hard to come by here. CBM employee Tobias Pflanzen also knows this. He himself was recently involved in an aid mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: “The nearest major hospital is usually very far away,” saysplant. “People then cycle for up to two days to find help.”
Rivers forded and bridges repaired
Together with the local CBM partner, Tobias Pflanzen embarked on an adventurous journey to distribute medicine to the people in the affected regions. He and his team had to pull the all-terrain vehicle out of the mud several times, repair bridges and wade through murky water. After two and a half days, the goal at the border to the Central African Republic was finally reached: Tobias Pflanzen met people here who were already irretrievably blind from river blindness. Just like the 42-year-old fisherman Wushidi: “The man has ten children,” reportsplant. “He never saw seven of them because he went blind before they were born.” This has serious consequences for the fisherman and his family. Wushidi’s wife now works alone in the fields to make ends meet for the family. Wushidi’s nine-year-old son takes care of the blind father. “The boy should actually go to school, but often can’t if his father needs him particularly,” says Tobias Pflanzen.
244 million people worldwide at risk of river blindness
River blindness is one of the so-called neglected tropical diseases. According to the WHO, 244 million people worldwide are threatened by it. 99 percent of those infected live in Africa. The habitat of the vector mosquito is primarily the bank areas of fast-flowing rivers. The drug Mectizan could no longer help the fisherman Wushidi himself. Like him, 1.15 million people have lost sight or become blind due to river blindness. Wushidi’s children have the chance to be spared their father’s fate – provided they receive the drug once a year. If everyone in the endangered areas received Mectizan, river blindness could even be stopped altogether. For more than 30 years, the CBM has been fighting diseases such as river blindness in the affected regions so that no one has to go blind like Wushidi because of a mosquito.
Further information and help at: www.cbm.de/flussblindheit and www.cbm.de/hilfecounter-flowblindheit
Press contact:
CBM press office: Miriam Brakel, Tel.: 06251-131 184,
E-Mail: [email protected]
Original content from: cbm Christoffel-Blindenmission eV, transmitted by news aktuell