Once one of the world's most endemic countries for Guinea worm, Ghana no longer suffers from the debilitating disease. The West African nation was one of the first assisted by the Carter Center-led Guinea worm eradication campaign and has battled major setbacks on its way to zero cases. But in July 2011, Ghana Ministry of Health officials announced that the nation had no reported cases for a year. The achievement ushers Guinea worm to the brink of becoming the second human disease, after smallpox, to be eradicated from earth.
 
Likewise, Ghana's efforts against trachoma, the world's leading cause of preventable blindness, have been just as determined. Three years ago, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan nation in Africa to eliminate blinding trachoma as a public health problem. The victory was won through diligent implementation of the
S-A-F-E strategy of surgery, antibiotics, face washing, and environmental hygiene, including building household latrines to hold down the fly population that spreads the disease.

Learn more about the Carter Center's health work in Ghana >