A study by Tanzania’s National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) has shown that onchocerciasis, known as river blindness, has not returned to the Tukuyu transmission zone over four years of monitoring.
Community drug distribution was stopped in 2021 after a first phase of the study showed infections had fallen. Between 2022 and 2025, tests in children aged 5 to 9 stayed below 0.1%, the threshold recommended by WHO.
The results were presented on 15 October 2026 to health workers from the Mbeya and Songwe regions, bringing new hope for eliminating the disease in the area and later nationwide.
