"Cross-border collaboration in onchocerciasis elimination in Uganda: progress, challenges and opportunities from 2008 to 2013".

Background: Until recently onchocerciasis was prevalent in 37 out of 112 districts of Uganda with at least 3.8 million people at risk of contracting the disease, but following the launching of community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI) in 1996 and the adoption of an onchocerciasis elimination policy in 2007, the country has made significant progress in combating the disease. By 2015, interruption of transmission had been achieved in ten of the 17 onchocerciasis foci, but cross-border foci remained particularly problematic, and therefore within the onchocerciasis elimination framework, Uganda embarked upon addressing these issues with its neighbouring countries, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.