Figure 5

Impact of annual ivermectin distribution on incidence of blindness due to onchocerciasis in savannah areas of Africa. Red, blue and green lines correspond to, respectively, a baseline endemicity of 80%, 60% and 40% microfilarial prevalence. The commencement of the intervention at year 1 is represented by the vertical dashed line. The initially delayed decrease is due to a two-year lag between blindness incidence in the present and microfilarial load in the past. Results shown assume a therapeutic coverage of 80%, 0.1% of systematic non-compliance, perennial transmission, and a 7% cumulative reduction in microfilarial production by female adult worms per ivermectin dose.