Neglected Tropical Diseases – Nigeria

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Neglected Tropical Diseases – Nigeria

Description

Save children and adults from unbearable pain and life-long blindness. The impact of your gift will be multiplied x7.

Your gift will be multiplied x7, because every $1 you send means $7 of medication reaches the remote villages at greatest risk of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).

NTDs cause excruciating pain and chronic disability to more than one billion people infected in the poorest communities of the world. Approximately 90% of these diseases can be treated with medicines administered once or twice a year.

This programme aims to contribute towards the control and elimination of five debilitating NTDs – River Blindness, Elephantiasis, Snail Fever and Trachoma. The goal of this project is to follow World Health Organisation approaches to contribute to the elimination of NTDs in Nigeria.

THE NEED

Africa has the highest burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in the world. Nigeria has the largest population in Africa and is facing disproportionately large risks for contracting and transmitting these debilitating diseases. Several NTDs affect vision and can lead to permanent visual loss.

An estimated 31 million people in Nigeria are at risk of blindness and a variety of debilitating and disfiguring skin conditions from Onchocerciasis (River Blindness).

8.7 million Nigerians are at risk of Trachoma where, if left untreated, the disease causes eyelids to turn inwards resulting in pain in the eyes and eventual blindness.

Other diseases such as Lymphatic Filariases commonly known as Elephantiasis transmitted through mosquitoes, can cause permanent disability through severe swelling of arms, legs and body parts. Approximately 88 million Nigerians are at risk of contracting the disease.

Nigeria has the highest burden of Schistosomiasis in Africa, a parasitic disease that penetrates the skin of people in the water which can cause cancer of the bladder, anaemia, liver dysfunction and more.

Nigeria also has one of the highest risk of Soil Transmitted Helminths which is caused by the ingestion of eggs from contaminated soil. Commonly this inflicts school-aged children from impoverished rural communities with a wide range of symptoms including diarrhoea, anaemia, and impairment of growth.

These diseases thrive in impoverished, tropical regions where there is poor sanitation, unsafe drinking water, numerous insects to spread disease and little access to health services and Government support.

WHAT YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT CAN HELP FUND

  • Distributing essential preventive drug treatments to rural communities.
  • Improving access to safe water and hygiene practices to reduce transmission of disease.
  • Supporting the Government of Nigeria to run public awareness campaigns.

Additional information

Frequency

One-off, Every Week, Every 2 Weeks, Every 4 Weeks, Every Month, Quarterly, Annually

Fatima

Help protect children and adults from Neglected Tropical Diseases in Nigeria.

Your caring gift is urgently needed to help eradicate Neglected Tropical Diseases for good.

Right now, your gift will be multiplied seven times to bring healing where it’s needed most.

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2

In the remote villages of Nigeria, where roads fade into dust, families have lived for generations under the quiet cruelty of Neglected Tropical Diseases.

For children like 11-year-old Fatima, these diseases once threatened everything – their health, their education, and their future.

River Blindness, Elephantiasis, Snail Fever and Trachoma have stolen sight, mobility and dignity from millions of people in the world’s poorest places. With little access to healthcare, families often turned to traditional remedies that sadly did more harm than good.

Help protect children and adults from Neglected Tropical Diseases in Nigeria.

A cbm-funded community-based health worker explains it this way:

“Before now, people used all kinds of local herbs for eye diseases. They’d rub things into their eyes or rely on concoctions we couldn’t even explain.”

The consequences of these diseases were devastating. People lost their sight. Parents became unable to work. Children dropped out of school to care for sick relatives. These diseases didn’t just damage bodies – they stole futures.

But today, thanks to faithful supporters like you, hope is reaching even the hardest-to-reach places.

Please send your gift today, and see its impact multiplied seven times to deliver life-changing treatment to families in need.

Through large-scale distribution of proven pharmaceutical medication, cbm is working alongside local partners to stop these diseases at their source. Community-based health workers – trusted members of their own villages – are trained and equipped to go door to door, ensuring no one is left behind.

Isah, a 22-year-old cbm-funded community-based health worker, is one of these everyday heroes. With a backpack of medicine gifted by the pharmaceutical company Merck, and life-saving knowledge, Isah walks from home to home, protecting families with a simple dose of medicine that prevents infection and stops transmission.

And something remarkable has happened.

People now ask for the medicine themselves. That’s the level of trust we have built.

Fear has been replaced with confidence. Hidden suffering has given way to early treatment. Children like Fatima can now stay in school. Parents can now return to farming. Household incomes are growing. Communities are knitted together and have hope.

Right now, you can help this quiet revolution continue.

Your gift today will help send trained community-based health workers, like Isah, into remote villages with parasite-killing medication that prevents blindness, disability and lifelong suffering. Even more incredibly, your generosity will be multiplied seven times, reaching far more adults and children than you might imagine.

Where the road ends, Neglected Tropical Diseases begin – but with your help, that’s where healing begins too.

Please prayerfully consider sending your life-changing gift today, knowing it will be multiplied seven times to reach adults and children in the world’s poorest places.

Thank you for standing with those who are too often forgotten – but never forgotten by God.

We have stocks of medicine ready to go – but we just need your help to get it to the people who live in harm’s way, in the Neglected Tropical Disease hotspots. Please send your gift today so its impact can be immediately multiplied seven times, reaching families who need it now. Thank you for your kindness!

Help protect children and adults from Neglected Tropical Diseases in Nigeria.

HELP ERADICATE NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES!

Your gift will be multiplied x7 to help protect adults and children, like Fatima, in the world’s poorest places.