The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis welcomes you to our website and encourages you to discover more about LF. More than 1 billion people in approximately 80 countries live at risk of contracting lymphatic filariasis (LF). More commonly known as elephantiasis, LF is a devastating parasitic infection spread by mosquitoes. Currently over 120 million people are already infected, with more than 40 million incapacitated or disfigured by the disease.

The Global Alliance is a public-private partnership created to assist in advocacy, resource mobilisation, and programme implementation. Created in 2000, it brings together national Ministries of Health, the World Health Organization, companies within the private sector, international development agencies and foundations, non-governmental organisations, research and academic institutions, and local communities. GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co., Inc., have pledged all the albendazole and Mectizan necessary to achieve elimination - the largest drug donations in history, valued at more than $1 billion.

No public health programme has ever expanded as quickly as the Global Programme to Eliminate LF. Annual treatments have jumped rapidly, up from 25 million in 12 countries in 2000 to 122 million in 36 countries in 2003 to over 250 million in 39 countries in 2004. In 2005 381 million people received the necessary drugs. The rapid expansion can be attributed to several factors, including the generous drug donations and the fact that governments in endemic regions increasingly view the programme as a tangible way to address poverty and improve health. In addition, the Global Alliance is seeing benefits beyond the primary programme intent. In integrating its work with other health programmes, including malaria and river blindness, among others, local health systems are able to maximize resources leading to cost efficiencies. The drugs that prevent LF also eliminate intestinal worms, providing an additional, immediate benefit to LF treatment*. Annual treatments have shown dramatic and persistent reductions in hookworm and roundworm infections, improving children’s growth and nutrition.

As a public-private partnership, the Global Alliance brings together many different organizations under one umbrella. Many of the partners involved in the Global Alliance also have websites dedicated to the different aspects of LF elimination. We invite you to visit these websites through the LF Web Ring.

*Mectizan® (ivermectin) has formal regulatory approval for lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, and is donated by Merck & Co., Inc. for those indications