Fighting Disease: Senegal

Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease

Current Status:Transmission stopped, 1997
Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication: 2004

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 >

In 1992, The Carter Center began providing financial and technical assistance to the Ministry of Health in Senegal. Through these efforts, Senegal stopped transmission of Guinea worm disease in 1997 and was officially certified by the WHO as Guinea-worm-free in 2004.

Approaches introduced in local communities included: health education; distribution of nylon filters to strain out water fleas that host the infected larvae; safe, monthly ABATE® larvicide treatments in stagnant ponds, donated by the BASF Corporation; 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 monthly surveillance and interventions.

The Senegalese government's attention to eradicating Guinea worm disease helped accelerate and intensify eradication activities leading to Senegal's overall success in stopping transmission. Although Guinea worm was a minor health problem in the country, the government never relented in its efforts to stop Guinea worm permanently.

The Carter Center held a special ceremony in Atlanta in 2000 to honor Senegal, Chad, Pakistan, Cameroon, Yemen, India, and Kenya for having stopped disease transmission. Read more about the ceremony (PDF) >

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