About the Authors

Luc E. Coffeng

l.coffeng@erasmusmc.nl

Affiliation Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Wilma A. Stolk

Affiliation Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Honorat G. M. Zouré

Affiliation African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

J. Lennert Veerman

Affiliations Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Koffi B. Agblewonu

Affiliation African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Michele E. Murdoch

Affiliation Department of Dermatology, Watford General Hospital, Watford, United Kingdom

Mounkaila Noma

Affiliation African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Grace Fobi

Affiliation African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Jan Hendrik Richardus

Affiliation Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Donald A. P. Bundy

Affiliation Human Development Network, The World Bank, Washington, D.C., United States of America

Dik Habbema

Affiliation Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Sake J. de Vlas

Affiliation Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Uche V. Amazigo

Affiliations African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Independent Consultant, Enugu, Nigeria

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and report the following matters, which could be perceived as possible sources for conflict of interests: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank serves as Fiscal Agent to WHO APOC through its fiduciary oversight of the APOC Trust Fund and contributed to this paper through its work with the APOC secretariat in the maintenance of accurate financial records. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank. Furthermore, H.G.M. Zouré, K.B. Agblewonu, M. Noma, G. Fobi, U.V. Amazigo are or have been employees of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC), World Health Organization. The authors state that their employment has not caused any conflict of interest in any of the following: study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation, decision to publish.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: LEC WAS JLV DH SJdV. Performed the experiments: LEC. Analyzed the data: LEC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HGMZ KBA MEM MN GF UVA DAPB. Wrote the paper: LEC WAS JLV DH SJdV HGMZ KBA MEM MN GF UVA DAPB JHR.