Sleeping Sickness Programme
Considered all but conquered in the 1960s, sleeping sickness has reemerged in Africa with a vengeance - as hunger, war, absence of surveillance and ignorance have contributed to the spread of the blood-borne disease. Aventis, Bayer and Bristol-Myers Squibb have partnered with WHO to combat this disease. In May 2001 Aventis, committed $25 million for five years (2001-2006) to work in close collaboration with WHO on a three-point strategy, including adequate drug supplies, disease surveillance and management, treatment and research.

The program has three elements:
- Donation of eflornithine, pentamidine and melarsoprol - from July 2001 to 15 April 2004, a total of more than 1.2 million vials were donated to WHO and delivered to Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), who is providing storage, distribution, and administration of the drugs donated, in accordance with WHO's directions, to national control programs and non-governmental organizations;
- Financial support for disease management and control programs, such as systematic screening of populations living in endemic areas and medical staff training;
- Financial support for research and development of new therapies. Aventis' financial support has enabled WHO teams to start screening affected areas, training technicians and developing new treatments through the UNDP-World Bank-WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. Eight new off-road vehicles have put screening and treatment teams back in the field in Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In agreement with Aventis, Bristol-Myers Squibb has committed to fund the cost of one year's supply of the active ingredient for the medicine eflornithine. In addition, BMS pledged a cash donation to WHO of $400 thousand over two years to support efforts in treating the disease. In 2002 Bayer agreed to supply - at no cost and for an initial five-year period - as much of the sleeping sickness drug Germanin as the WHO determines is needed to eliminate the disease. Furthermore, Bayer is supporting studies of the use of Lampit, a drug originally used against Chagas' disease, to treat sleeping sickness.