Benin, Uganda, Rwanda eliminate human African trypanosomiasis

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), otherwise known as sleeping sickness, is a life-threatening disease that afflicts poor rural populations. Carried by tsetse flies, the disease has long been a curse for communities in West, Central and East Africa, where two different variants of the disease were rife. Now, countries and communities are fighting back with vigour and determination, and this is leading to very encouraging results. Three countries – Benin, Uganda and Rwanda – have now received validation from the World Health Organization (WHO) that at least one form of HAT has been eliminated as a public health problem in their lands. Uganda is the only country where both forms are endemic but has now achieved elimination as a public health problem of the gambiense form. The country remains committed to eliminating the rhodesiense form as well, which affects central and southern regions. Togo and Côte d’Ivoire were the first two countries to be validated as having eliminated the gambiense form of HAT as a public health problem, in 2020.