We can end River Blindness in our lifetime

75-year-old grandmother Tshabiluila knows that the only way to protect her grandchildren, and many children like them, is to give them Mectizan®, the miracle drug, now.

River Blindness is spread by the bite of a black fly – the most common is named Simulium damnosum, ‘the damned black fly’. Without you, the only way people can prevent infection is to avoid being bitten.

In a country like DRC – for people like Tshabiluila and her grandchildren – that’s almost impossible.

That’s because the black fly breeds near flowing water. Unfortunately, their choice of breeding area brings them into close contact with families living in poverty. Many villages are also near rivers, where there is fertile land and water for crops.

It’s in early morning and late afternoon – that the black fly bites, causing River Blindness.This relentless disease targets the most vulnerable people as they work to provide for their children.

For Tshabiluila and other people like her, the first sign that they have River Blindness is when their skin starts itching, and there is no relief. Nodules – hard swollen lumps – develop on the body where up to 50 parasitic worms are growing, before multiplying and spreading through the body.

If River Blindness is treated promptly, it can be stopped in its tracks. The one little tablet of Mectizan can kill off all the parasitic worms in a child’s body.That’s great, but it is not enough. With your help, we can protect a child forever.

A child who receives one dose of Mectizan® a year for 10 years has permanent immunity from River Blindness. And because the drugs are donated, it costs just €9 to protect a child from River Blindness for life. I urgently need your help with the one cost that’s outstanding – sending the drugs to our mobile clinics, so they can go from community to community without interruption to their programme. Our medical teams will administer the drug and monitor everyone’s course of medication.

Please will you send a gift today that could help us move quickly to treat children and protect them from River Blindness?

Tshabiluila knows all too well the tragedy of not being treated early enough.

“I had itching skin and burning eyes and also headaches,” she told us. But Tshabiluila contracted River Blindness decades ago, and it wasn’t treated until it was too late.

The disease spread to her eyes and she went blind 15 years ago, soon after her husband died. And there is nothing we can do to reverse the damage and restore her sight.

Because although Mectizan® is a miracle drug – and an answer to our prayers – there’s one thing it can’t do. It can’t make someone see again. All Mectizan® can do for Tshabiluila now is take away the painful itching and inflammation.

Sadly, blindness affects every part of her life, “I can’t grow my own food, or make charcoal to sell. There are so many things I can’t do. I can’t walk to places I want to go, or clean around my house.”

And that is why Tshabiluila is determined to protect her grandchildren from River Blindness.

As you may be aware, DRC is a vast country, the second largest in Africa. There’s no developed road or rail network. With the Ministry of Health in DRC, we have an established network of mobile clinics – we just need to distribute enough Mectizan® to protect local people living in high risk areas from River Blindness.
We have a supply of miracle drug, Mectizan® ready to go. Please will you give now to enable us to distribute it to high risk communities in DRC, and protect children from River Blindness for life?
 
What your support will achieve:
Because the drugs are donated, your gift goes a long way. It costs just €9 to protect a child from River Blindness for life.

Saving a child’s sight is an extraordinary thing to do. But your gift will achieve even more.

✔ By giving people immunity to River Blindness, you will prevent families having to flee their homes and abandon fertile land when black flies start to breed there.
✔ River Blindness spreads through the body and, often causes blindness when adults reach their early thirties. This is just the time when they have young families who depend on them. You could keep mothers and fathers healthy.
✔ When parents and grandparents go blind, it is usually children who are forced to give up going to school to care for them. You could help ensure a child’s education continues uninterrupted – giving them the skills to build a better life for themselves.

All this and more comes from this one tiny tablet. Or rather from your kindness and generosity today.