Listeners swayed as the celebrated Malian duo Amadou and Mariam sang from a stage on the banks of the Niger River at an annual festival coloured this year by political shifts roiling West Africa.

Niger just announced its elimination of river blindness. In 1976, the disease had a prevalence rate in the country of 60%.

Mansa Musa ruled for the next 25 years and used Mali's military might to control the trade routes of the Sahara and the Niger River, greatly expanding the wealth and power of the empire.

Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness ... Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Venezuela have started to pull back on mass treatment. “Niger’s success ends ...

Niger has become the first African country to eliminate river blindness, a parasitic disease that is the second-leading cause of blindness in the world, the WHO said Thursday. Niger is "the fifth ...