In order to be able to compare in time and space the results of onchocerciasis surveys in West Africa, the authors suggest to standardize the methodology of these surveys. The following points are defined : criteria to choose the villages, selection of population specimen, registration of socio-demographic data, clinical examination, assessment of visual acuity, parasitological examination founded on two quantitative bloodless cutaneous biopsies, definition of epidemiologic indices, adjustement of these indices to a standard population, synthesis of results by age-group and sex on the one hand by the presentation of frequency distribution of cutaneous microfilarial densities, on the other hand by calculation of geometric means of these densities.