Fighting Disease:  Chad

Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease

Current Status:Transmission stopped, 1998; isolated outbreak 2010/2011
Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication: 1998

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 >

In July 2010, during a World Health Organization precertification mission to Chad, an isolated outbreak of Guinea worm disease was discovered. Chad had not reported any indigenous cases of the disease in more than 10 years. The sources of contamination in Chad (foci of transmission) in 2009 are unknown.  For more information on the isolated outbreak in Chad, and current worldwide case reports, read the latest Guinea Worm Wrap-Up newsletter >

In 1993, when Guinea worm eradication efforts began in Chad, a total of 1,231 cases of Guinea worm disease were found in a national case search. Six of Chad's nine national provinces were endemic for the disease, including 106 villages. The Carter Center Guinea Worm Eradication Program's strategy for elimination in Chad consisted of several components, primarily driven by health education in collaboration with local ministries of health.

The project changed behavior, mobilized communities to improve the safety of their local water sources, and taught people how to prevent contamination of their water sources by always filtering drinking water. Approaches introduced to the communities have included: education on proper use of and distribution of nylon filters to strain out the intermediate host; safe, monthly ABATE® larvicide treatments of stagnant ponds; direct advocacy with water organizations; and increased efforts to build safer hand-dug wells. Village volunteers were trained, supplied, and supervised by the program to carry out monthly surveillance and interventions.

In Chad, in addition to these measures, messages on Guinea worm eradication were prepared in national languages and broadcast by radio. Bolts of cloth with a Guinea worm eradication slogan, donated by The Carter Center, were distributed to program staff and village health workers for the purpose of publicizing the program and motivating those concerned. These efforts came to fruition in 1997, when Chad stopped transmission of Guinea worm disease (12 consecutive months of zero indigenous reported cases). This historic accomplishment positively benefited the entire country, as more children could attend school and more adults could return to work.

Chad's success overcoming Guinea worm gives hope that other problems can be addressed with the same hard work and commitment. The Carter Center held a special ceremony in Atlanta in 2000 to honor Chad, Senegal, Cameroon, Yemen, Pakistan, India, and Kenya for reaching a major milestone in their elimination efforts by stopping Guinea worm disease transmission.

Read Nations Celebrate Progress Against Guinea Worm (The Carter Center News, July-December 2000, p.6, PDF) >

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