Lymphatic filariasis threatens more than one billion people in about 80 countries. More often known as elephantiasis, this disease is a devastating parasitic infection transmitted by mosquitoes. Over 120 million people are currently infected, and over 40 million of them are disabled or disfigured by the disease.
Our projects on lymphatic filariasis aim primarily to prevent and treat disability due to the disease and to work towards integrating care for filariasis with care for other debilitating diseases.
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The devastating effects of filariasis
Ali, 13, suffers from lymphatic filariasis (or elephantiasis). The fifth child in a family of twelve children, Ali's pain and fever used to prevent him from working in the family field. But treatment and some simple advice on care have been able to stop the progression of the disease.
Ali's family are often hard at work in their field, located several tens of kilometres from home. Because he couldn’t walk such a long way, he used to go by bike, but even this triggered a terrible pain in his lower limbs: "It was like a fire burning in my legs”. Recurrent crises kept Ali in bed with swollen feet and a high fever…it was impossible for him to help his parents care for their crops.
Because they didn’t understand what was causing the pain, Ali’s parents started to think that he was making it up. In addition to the physical pain he was suffering, people started to think of Ali as being lazy.
However, everything changed for Ali when a Handicap International team visited his village in Burkina Faso and diagnosed him as having lymphatic filariasis. Ali was relieved to have finally put a name to his illness and was happy to get practical advice about hygiene and care that would limit his symptoms. These simple steps have made a real difference to Ali’s life and he is keen to return to work with his family in time for the next harvest.
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