Senegal continues to make significant progress in the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Following the official elimination of trachoma as a public health problem, confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the country is now on track to achieve another major goal: the elimination of onchocerciasis by 2026.

The Ministry of Health and Social Action organized a special screening of the documentary film "Fly Collectors" in Dakar. This work traces more than thirty years of community engagement, scientific rigor, and national mobilization that have helped interrupt the transmission of onchocerciasis in Senegal.

"This meeting is taking place in a unique context where the WHO recently recognized Senegal as one of the countries that have eliminated trachoma. This proves that if we continue our efforts, the goal of eliminating onchocerciasis by 2026 is within reach," said Serigne Mbaye, Secretary General of the Ministry, during the screening.

Onchocerciasis, also known as "river blindness," is a parasitic disease that causes skin and eye lesions and is transmitted to humans through the bite of a small black fly called a blackfly. After more than half a century of global control, five countries have already eliminated the disease: Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Guatemala, and Niger.

In Senegal, transmission was interrupted in 2022, allowing mass ivermectin treatments to be halted in January 2023. Since then, the country has entered a post-treatment surveillance phase. National and international experts recently met in Dakar to confirm the positive results of this second year of monitoring, paving the way for certification of elimination by 2026.

Present at the ceremony, the United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Senegal, Saed Hamdan Al Naqbi, praised the joint efforts of African countries and their partners. "These diseases, long neglected, are now a top priority thanks to the leadership of African countries. As of July 2025, 57 countries worldwide have already eliminated at least one NTD, including 22 African countries," he recalled.

He also stressed that Senegal is at the forefront of the continent, not only thanks to its progress against river blindness, but also with the cessation of treatment for lymphatic filariasis, another major advance.

"Ten years ago, many considered the goal of eliminating NTDs in Africa impossible. Today, the results demonstrate the opposite," the diplomat concluded.

Senegal, with its experience and recent successes, could thus become one of the next countries to include onchocerciasis in the list of officially eliminated diseases.