Public health programmes typically respond with community-wide distribution of ivermectin, a medicine that kills the larval stage and reduces transmission when delivered repeatedly at scale. Because ivermectin does not kill adult worms, health authorities rely on repeated treatment rounds for years to outlast the parasite’s lifecycle and interrupt spread.
In Oyo State, the effort is supported by Christian Blind Mission (CBM), through our Reaching the Last Mile Project. The group is working with the Oyo State Ministry of Health to support drug distribution and the systems around it, including planning, training, supervision, and data checks.
A campaign of this size depends on logistics and trust as much as medicine. Organisers describe a full delivery cycle that began with microplanning and training and moved through community mobilisation, distribution, monitoring, and post-treatment validation. The goal is straightforward, reach as many eligible people as possible, and record who received treatment with enough accuracy to guide the next round.
The early phase focused on preparation at state and local levels. A three-day training brought together monitoring and evaluation staff, state and local coordinators, primary health care leaders, and data managers. The group reviewed local microplans and the operational approach, then trained across supply chain management, training cascades, drug administration, reverse logistics, social mobilisation, supervision, and data management.
The campaign also opened a wider question that follows most disease-control efforts in Nigeria, who pays for the long haul.
