Medical screening campaign for "sleeping sickness" in Chad

Villagers register to be tested for sleeping sickness. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set up an ambitious campaign to test for sleeping sickness (AKA African Human trypanosomiasis). The disease has reestablished itself throughout sub-Saharan Africa. 5-9% of the population tested during this campaign is infected. As AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis continue as frontrunners in the mortality stakes, sleeping sickness and its 500,000 estimated carriers is not seen as a priority even though it is a killer disease if untreated. Once diagnosed, the treatment is very painful and toxic (7-10% of patients die from the hospital-administered treatment alone). Thanks to an initiative by WHO director Dr. Jean Jannin, who leads the combat against sleeping sickness, screenings have been set up in 15 African countries. | Location: Danmadja Village, Chad. (Photo by Patrick ROBERT/Corbis via Getty Images)