Fighting Disease:  Cameroon

Go to: River Blindness

Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease

Current Status: Transmission stopped, 1997
Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication: 2007

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 1986, the Carter Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program has led a world coalition fighting to eradicate Guinea worm disease. In 1989, Cameroon began hosting events, today known as National Guinea Worm Days, specifically organized to increase awareness about the disease and promote prevention techniques. In 2007, the World Health Organization certified Cameroon as free of Guinea worm disease. Read full text >

Controlling River Blindness

River blindness is a parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of small black flies that breed in rapidly flowing streams and rivers. The disease causes severe itching, eye damage, and often blindness but is preventable through health education and distribution of the medicine Mectizan®. Learn more about the Carter Center's campaign to eliminate river blindness from the Americas and to control it in Africa >

Onchocerciasis, or river blindness, is widespread in Cameroon. In the early 1990s, the River Blindness Foundation began assisting Cameroon's Ministry of Health to distribute Mectizan® (ivermectin, donated by Merck) in North province. The Carter Center assumed the River Blindness Foundation in 1996. In addition, the Carter Center River Blindness Program in partnership with the Lions Clubs International Foundation began working in the West province of Cameroon in 1996. Other nongovernmental organizations are active in the fight against onchocerciasis in Cameroon along with the African Program for Onchocerciasis Control.

In 2010, Carter Center-assisted areas in Cameroon received 1,823,700 treatments for river blindness, including 1,385,562 treatments in West region and 438,138 treatments in North region. Read full text >