UFAR - United Front Against RiverBlindness

United Front Against Riverblindness (UFAR) is an African-inspired, US-based nonprofit and tax-exempt organization. UFAR was registered as a tax-exempt organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2005, and it has now established an office in that country (Kinshasa, DRC).

The concept of Community-Directed Treatment with Ivermectin (CDTI) was conceived and adopted worldwide as the primary method for mass distribution of Mectizan to control onchocerciasis. CDTI is the strategy whereby people in endemic communities are empowered to play a major role in managing their own health, in partnership with the African Program for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC), the Non-Governmental Development Organizations (NGDO) and their own national government.

As a relatively new organization and through our initial involvement in the CDTI Kasongo, UFAR's primary goal is to become a recognized and respected member of the coalition of international, national and local organizations currently involved in concerted efforts to eliminate onchocerciasis as a major public health and socioeconomic problem in the DRC.

UFAR became an official member of the NGDO Coalition Group for Onchocerciasis Control in September 2005, and subsequently became the NGDO partner of the CDTI project in the Kasongo region commonly referred to as “CDTI Kasongo”.