River blindness
African story with a happy ending
At a time when the news out of Africa is overwhelmingly negative, this year's Joan M. Stroud Lecture focused on an inspiring success story.
River blindness, the scourge of West Africa for centuries, was the subject of the talk by Vince Resh, professor of entomology in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkley.
In addition to his teaching, Prof. Resh also advises 11 African countries for the United Nations' World Health Organization. He specializes on river sustainability and population resettlement of rivers freed from onchocerciasis, the scientific term for river blindness.
Mr. Resh's connections with Stroud include his involvement in the doctoral-program training of two of the Center's research scientists, Denis Newbold and John Jackson - "both of whom happen to be among his best students," said Director Bern Sweeney. "It looks like he trains them and we put them to work." He also shares with Bern active involvement in the North American Benthological Society. Dr. Resh is a former president of the society, Dr. Sweeney is the current president.
In his lecture, Mr. Resh described the horrific history of the disease that caused human blindness in more than 10 percent of the adult populations of affected areas. Transmitted by blackflies, onchocerciasis led to the abandonment of the most fertile river valleys of West Africa, which Dr. Resh described as the poorest region in the world.
The U.N. launched a massive economic development plan to control the disease in 1975. By a combination of controlling the blackfly carriers in the rivers and treating the parasites in humans, Mr. Resh said, river blindness has been eliminated throughout most of the affected region.
This public health success story also resulted in new food production in a region that supports about 17 million people, he said, adding that sustainability of further resettlement of the valleys remains a challenge.
He also spoke about the ecology of the affected rivers, the environmental consequences of the control program and the sociological and geopolitical implications of population resettlement in the region.
Dr. Resh, who is the author of about 250 scientific articles, has conducted research in rivers throughout the world. He was the director of the University of California's Gump Research Station in Moorea, French Polynesia, from 1996 to 2001.
He won the first teaching award in natural resources in 1990 and the Berkeley campus' Distinguished Teacher Award in 1995.
CONTACT:
vresh@nature.berkeley.edu
