The Netherlands contributed nearly $3 million to the global smallpox eradication campaign between 1967and 1979. Smallpox was successfully eradicated in 1977.
The Netherlands has provided financial assistance to the global effort to eradicate guinea worm. The Netherlands, along with twelve other donor countries, has contributed to the estimated $87.5 million cost of the campaign. Since the start of the campaign in 1986, disease prevalence has dropped 99 percent and the number of cases has fallen from 3.5 million to less than 35,000.
The Netherlands was one of 22 countries that contributed $560 million in donor assistance to the 28-year onchocerciasis control program in west Africa. As a result of the program, transmission was halted in 11 west African countries; 600,000 cases of blindness were prevented; and 22 million children born in the program area are now free from the risk of river blindness. Furthermore, 25 million hectares of arable land - enough to feed an additional 17 million people - are now safe for resettlement.
