Right now, there are medical and charity efforts the world over geared towards battling and potentially eradicating a wide range of diseases. Not all of those efforts will be successful and it’s not the kind of work that bears fruit overnight. It takes hard work, but how does it all play out in reality? That’s what we’re going to discuss today, so find out more below.

How Often Are Diseases Eradicated?

Well, diseases can be eradicated and they sometimes are. But it’s not an easy task, and suppression and control is the far more common outcome than outright eradication. And the eradication of infectious disease is particularly challenging.

Smallpox is an example of an infectious disease that has been eradicated entirely, and others are close to reaching that milestone in the present day. But it’s certainly not something that happens very often.

The Example of River Blindness

One good example of an effort to eradicate a disease is river blindness. The disease rose to prominence in the 1970s and since then work has been done to control the disease with the aim of eradicating it entirely.

River blindness is caused and spread by the bite of infected flies. These flies breed near rivers that are known for flowing particularly quickly, which explains the prevalence of the disease in villages near rivers in Burkina Faso. The flies produce tiny worms and when those worms die, they create toxins which, when they build up over time, cause lesions on the skin and the cornea, leading to blindness.

Disease control efforts have been underway since the early 1970s and were led by the World Health Organization, local health systems and medical experts and other global and regional charities. There are two aspects to the so far successful disease control efforts. First involves insect control measures and the other, and most impactful of the two, is the distribution of an anti-parasite medication known as ivermectin.

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When discussing diseases, the experts working on battling them don’t use the term eradication unless they see it as a realistic scenario. The task of eradicating River Blindness is a huge one, and things such as WHO’s disease control efforts in places like Burkina Faso have made eradication possible. Control efforts have been so successful that eradication is now the next major milestone that disease control experts working in the area are now setting their sights on.

The Challenges in Realistically Eradicating a Disease

It’s important to understand that eradicating a disease is something that can only be done through on the ground work. It has to be done in collaboration with different medical organizations and community groups that understand how to get through to local people and have everyone working towards the same ends.

At the same time, the proper funding and expertise needs to exist in order to ensure efforts to control and eradicate the disease from the local population aren’t in vain. That’s where the work of charities and global health organizations such as the WHO can step in, offering expertise, guidance, research and funding for medical interventions and treatments on the ground.