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

Abstract Background: Onchocerciasis is one of the most devastating Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) 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. Abu-Hamed focus is the first WHO certified elimination of Onchocerciasis in Africa.Methods: This a cross-sectional study used a well-established questionnaire to investigate the socio-economic impacts of the 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, with 90% of the research participants reported general satisfaction about the elimination of the disease in their community, and about 48.3% of them attended secondary school or university. Only 0.6% reported unemployment, and 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 after the elimination of the disease in the area. Also, 90.5% of the participants reported either stable or increase in their work performance during the last twelve months. About 93.8% of the respondents were engaged in normal daily activities and involved in happy events like marriage and giving birth during the last twelve months.Conclusions: Overall, we conclude that the elimination of Onchocerciasis in Abu-Hamed has several positive impacts on the economy and social life of Abu-Hamed local communities, but this could be maximized by controlling the vector, which is still having a negative impact on the populations. Establishing local developmental projects will help these communities greatly to recover and become more productive.