News & Publications

Guinea Worm Eradication Program - Stories From the Field 

Feb. 3, 2010
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to View Major Progress Against Guinea Worm Disease in Sudan
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, will travel to the world's most Guinea worm-endemic country—Sudan—Feb. 9-12, 2010, to personally appeal for completing eradication of the crippling waterborne parasite as soon as possible and to urge peace and stability in the nation as it prepares for its first multi-party elections in 24 years in April, which the Carter Center's international election observation team will monitor.

Dec. 21, 2009
Guinea Worm Disease:  Nigeria's Last Case
Once the most endemic country for Guinea worm disease in the world, Nigeria declares victory in its 20-year war. In Ezza Nkwubor village in southeastern Nigeria, 58-year-old Grace Otubo sits on a wooden bench and touches her right heel, recalling where a Guinea worm painfully emerged in November 2008.

Aug. 17, 2009
Young Patient Exhibits Bravery Beyond His Years in Unusual Guinea Worm Case
Five-year-old Lotepi Lokusi's mother was worried.  Although she knew it was common for a Guinea worm to emerge from a foot or an ankle, she had never seen one migrate to the face. Clearly visible just under his skin--from one jaw line to the other--a Guinea worm was winding its way higher each day, toward her little boy's scalp.

May 29, 2009
Ghanaian Reggae Artist Sings Out Against Guinea Worm Disease, Educates Concert-Goers About Prevention
It is dusk in northern Ghana and communities reverberate with the local mosque's call to prayer. The setting sun has fallen beyond the concrete buildings that flank the market square, casting everyone in deep purple shadow. Thousands of people are making their way to this rural outpost, the current epicenter of the country's decades-long battle to eradicate Guinea worm disease.

May 1, 2009
Health Director Relishes Everyday Victories
For Craig Withers, the Carter Center's director of program support, the bumblebee is the perfect symbol of success.

May 1, 2008
Free From Guinea Worm Disease, Girl Tends to Family, Chores
A little more than a year ago, 10-year-old Hubeida Iddirisu faced long days of pain as three Guinea worms began to emerge from blisters on her body. Every day for two weeks, a volunteer came to her home in Savelugu town, Ghana, to extract the worms slowly by rolling them on pieces of gauze, a little each day. As is the case with most Guinea worm disease victims, Iddirisu was unable to handle her household tasks while the worms were emerging. Her family relies on her income from selling charcoal.

Jan. 24, 2008
To Guinea Worms, Ruiz-Tiben Is Top Foe
Fifteen years ago, Dr. Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben, then in his early 50s, was contemplating retirement. He had served 27 years as a commissioned officer of the U.S. Public Health Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and was thinking about starting a new career and traveling. He got his wish in spades: a new job and long journeys, although he's not traveling for pleasure.

Dec. 19, 2007
Inspired by Health Challenges, Doctor Works Miracles in Burkina Faso
As a child growing up in the small village of Dakore in Burkina Faso, Dr. Dieudonné Sankara saw firsthand the debilitating affects of Guinea worm disease.

Dec. 14, 2006
Miss Ghana Vows to Fight Guinea Worm Disease in Her Home Country
Feature on 2005 Miss Ghana and her personal quest to eradicate Guinea worm disease.

Oct. 1, 2006
Laughter Is the Best Medicine: Group's Humor Aids in Guinea Worm Education
Two actors take the stage and make wild cartoonish gestures and snappy remarks. This is not the latest sitcom in Hollywood or a new Broadway production but a drama about Guinea worm disease in rural Ghana. 

Sept. 27, 2006
Removing the Scar of Guinea Worm Disease: One Village at a Time
The muddy pond is as brown as the hillsides surrounding it. It is the peak of dry season in Ghana and Chief Tahanaa looks over the water he has been drinking since he was a child.

May 1, 2006
Dr. Emmanuel Miri: 'Dr. Water' Pours New Life into Rural Nigerian Communities with Carter Center Health Programs
His name means "water" and "life" in the Southeastern region of his native Nigeria, and perhaps no name could be more appropriate for Dr. Emmanuel Miri, resident technical adviser for the Carter Center's health programs in Nigeria.

Jan. 12, 2005
Countrymen United in Fight Against Guinea Worm Disease in Sudan
Dr. Nabil Azziz and Dr. Achol Marial live in and love the same country. Both are medical doctors with families and both head health organizations. But their country - Sudan - has been torn by a devastating civil war for the past 20 years. Medically, they are united in the fight against Guinea worm disease. The doctors met at The Carter Center in September 2003. 

Aug. 31, 2004
Stories From the Field: 6-Year-Old Lukma
In a makeshift Guinea worm care center in Savelugu-Nanton, Ghana, 6-year-old Lukma receives treatment for a worm emerging from a blister on the top of his left foot. Abukari Abukari, a local health worker, questions Lukma's mother about her water-filtering practices, reminding her that she must filter all of the family's drinking water to prevent the disease from occurring.

April 1, 2004
Guinea Worm Warrior: Abdelgadir El Sid
Profile on Abdelgadir El Sid of Sudan.

Dec. 26, 2003
Women Red Cross Volunteers Tackle Guinea Worm in Ghana
Ridding a country of its last few thousand cases of Guinea worm disease presents a special challenge. Those cases exist mostly in remote areas, where there are few wells and people draw their drinking water from ponds sometimes rife with Guinea worm larvae.

Oct. 30, 2003
Profile: Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben, Technical Director, Carter Center Guinea Worm Eradication Program
Many Americans have never heard of dracunculiasis or more commonly, Guinea worm, a painful disease that is contracted when a person consumes water contaminated with water fleas carrying infective larvae. Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben, Ph.D., however, has had Guinea worm on his mind for the past 20 years.

July 24, 2003
Village Volunteers at Heart of Guinea Worm Disease Eradication
The Carter Center staff coordinating the Guinea Worm Eradication Program in each country cannot be everywhere all the time.

June 6, 2003
Guinea Worm 'Warrior' Fights Disease in Southern Sudan
Ermino Emilio cannot stop the war that has plagued his country for decades, but he can help people in his region of southern Sudan by protecting them from the further torment of Guinea worm disease.

May 14, 2003
Guinea Worm Eradication in Togo: A Firsthand Account
When The Carter Center began fighting Guinea worm disease in 1986 there were an estimated 3.5 million cases of Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis) occurring annually in 20 countries in Asia and Africa and more than 120 million people were at risk of acquiring the disease. In 2002, there were approximately 55,000 cases reported from only 13 countries, less than 2 percent of the annual burden of disease in 1986. The Carter Center leads the global campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease in the countries that remain endemic. Among the most endemic is Togo, where Carter Center Public Relations Coordinator Emily Howard witnessed the debilitating impact that the preventable disease has caused. She observed the crusade of health workers in the field to build hope for millions. Following is her three-part account.