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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Guinea Worm Challenge Grant

To help eliminate the fewer than 3,500* estimated remaining cases of Guinea worm disease worldwide, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has issued a $40 million challenge grant – the largest in Carter Center history.

The grant includes an outright contribution of $8 million and encourages individuals and other donor organizations to provide an additional $32 million, which the Gates Foundation will match one-to-one. The successful completion of the challenge will raise $72 million to finish Guinea worm eradication. Since 2000, the Gates Foundation has been a valued partner in the Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program, inspiring an outpouring of contributions from the donor community during this landmark effort.

Today, cases of Guinea worm disease remain in only four African nations: Sudan, Ghana, Mali, and Ethiopia.  When the eradication campaign began in 1986, there were an estimated 3.5 million cases in 20 nations in Africa and Asia. Since then, worldwide cases have been reduced by 99.9 percent.  Total cases for 2008 were below the 5,000 mark, and two countries—Nigeria and Niger—stopped transmission of Guinea worm disease. Today, southern Sudan, northern Ghana, and eastern Mali are the main foci of eradication efforts.

Poised to be only the second disease in human history to be eradicated, Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis) will be the first to be wiped off the face of the Earth without a vaccine or medicine.

Make history with The Carter Center. Donate now to the Gates Foundation Matching Grant.

*Provisional.  2009 case totals will be confirmed in 2010.

Updated Dec. 18, 2009