Fighting Disease: Côte d'Ivoire

Eradicating Guinea Worm

Current Status: Transmission stopped, September 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 >

When Côte d'Ivoire joined the Guinea worm eradication campaign in 1995, there were a recorded 3,421 cases in 252 Ivoirian villages. By 2006, the country reported a more than 99 percent reduction in cases, reporting only five Guinea worm cases in one village from the district of Mibahikro. In September 2006, the program reported its last indigenous case from the village of Lendoukro, thanks to systematic interventions against transmission of the disease. The following year, after going 13 consecutive months with no further cases reported, the nation announced it had stopped Guinea worm disease transmission.

Since the December 1999 coup that toppled then President Henri Konan Bedie, the country has been plagued by internal conflict. Tensions rose again after a second coup attempt in 2002, which divided the country and has led to other political crises.

Guinea worm disease elimination efforts were largely dependent on education and preventative measures.

Approaches for eradication introduced in local communities include: health education; the distribution of nylon filters to strain out water fleas hosting infected larvae; safe, monthly treatment of stagnant water sources with ABATE® larvicide, donated by the BASF Corporation; direct advocacy with water organizations; and increased efforts to build safer hand-dug wells. Village volunteers, who are trained, supplied, and supervised by the program, carry out monthly surveillance and interventions.

Côte d'Ivoire must maintain quality surveillance until the country is officially certified as Guinea-worm-free.

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