Fighting Disease:  Niger

Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease

Current Status:Transmission stopped, October 2008 (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 1986, the Carter Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program has led a world coalition fighting to eradicate this devastating disease. In Niger, The Carter Center has been working with the national program to eliminate Guinea worm disease since 1993. When the program began, five of Niger's six regions – Dosso, Maradi, Tahoua, Tillaberi, and Diffa – were endemic, hosting approximately 33,000 cases of Guinea worm disease in 1,700 villages.

In collaboration with the federal Ministry of Health, The Carter Center implemented several strategies for elimination, primarily driven by health education. The goal of the Guinea Worm Eradication Program was to change behavior to prevent Guinea worm disease and mobilize communities to improve the safety of their local water sources.

Efforts focused attention on training volunteers from each family unit in the most endemic villages and bringing cases to medical facilities where worms can be quickly and safely removed before wounds become infected. The collaboration between medical facilities and family volunteers to detect, report, and treat Guinea worm cases helped reduce chances of a case contaminating a source of drinking water.

After years of hard work and vigilance, Niger reported its last three indigenous cases in October 2008. After 12 consecutive months without a single indigenous case, Niger was determined to have once and for all broken Guinea worm transmission. However, the nation must continue its partnership with neighboring Mali, which remains endemic and exported three cases to Niger in 2010.

The tri-border area between Burkina Faso (which stopped Guinea worm transmission in 2006), Mali, and Niger poses a unique challenge to the global eradication program because of the migratory nature of the populations in this area. In Niger, as well as in other nations, migratory peoples (such as the Taureg and Peule) often are some of the most marginalized. It is important that migrant populations are given the necessary tools, such as pipe filters and health education, to prevent the disease from traveling with them.

To avoid further case importation and ensure successful regional elimination, Mali and Niger have collaborated to standardize their case reporting rewards and their guidelines for hospitalizing Guinea worm patients.

Niger's success at eliminating Guinea worm inspires other nations struggling with the disease as well as the Nigerien people.

Read the blog: Niger and Nigeria Receive Carter Center Awards for Guinea Worm Eradication >

Watch the video: 2011 Carter Center Awards for Guinea Worm Eradication >

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