Fighting Disease:  Burkina Faso

Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease

Current status: Transmission stopped, November 2006 (read the announcement)
Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication: Pending

For the most current Guinea worm case reports, read the Guinea Worm Wrap-Up newsletter >

Dracunculiasis, or Guinea worm disease, is a preventable parasitic infection contracted when a person ingests drinking water from stagnant sources containing copepods (commonly referred to as water fleas) that harbor infective Guinea worm larvae. Inside a person's body, the larvae grow for a year, becoming thin threadlike worms up to 1 meter long. These worms create agonizingly painful blisters in the skin through which they slowly exit the body, preventing the victim from attending school, caring for children, or harvesting crops. Learn more about the historic Carter Center-led campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease>

Since the national program began in 1992, the Carter Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program worked in conjunction with the government of Burkina Faso and other international organizations to eliminate Guinea worm disease from Burkina Faso. The Burkina Faso program has been a great success. The country reported its last case of Guinea worm disease in Tondia-Kangue village in November 2006.

When the program began, more than 600 communities in Burkina Faso were endemic to Guinea worm disease. To wipe out the disease, Burkina Faso faced several major obstacles: the inaccessibility of certain endemic villages due to poor road conditions during the rainy season, which also was peak transmission season for Guinea worm disease; the need to provide safe water to certain populations who might not otherwise be able to acquire it; and mobilization of communities to contain and report all cases of the disease.

Approaches to prevent and eradicate Guinea worm disease in Burkinabe communities addressed these concerns through health education; distribution of nylon filters used to strain out the microscopic organisms hosting the larvae; monthly ABATE® larvicide (donated by BASF Corporation) treatments of stagnant ponds; direct advocacy with water organizations; and increased efforts to build safer hand-dug wells. Village volunteers, who were trained, supplied, and supervised by the program, carried out monthly surveillance and interventions.

However, the importation of Guinea worm disease into Burkina Faso from other endemic countries complicated eradication efforts. In 2006 and 2007, Burkina Faso reported imported cases from countries including Mali, Ghana, and Cote d'Ivoire.

Burkina Faso must continue to monitor and report the importation and exportation of Guinea worm cases across its borders as well as in all local districts, whether believed to be endemic or not.

Burkina Faso's success at stopping Guinea worm disease inspires other nations struggling with the disease as well as the Burkinabe people.

Learn more about the Carter Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program in Burkina Faso (in search result format) >