Guinea Worm Eradication Program - Real Lives, Real Change

May 7, 2012
Meet Dr. Nabil Aziz Mikhail: Tireless Warrior Against Guinea Worm Disease, River Blindness in Sudan
Ask about the time he nearly died from cerebral malaria during a Guinea worm surveillance trip, or his supervisory visit to a town under siege, or the nights he spent stuck in a car with no food, little water, and once with three flat tires, and Dr. Nabil Aziz Mikhail will tell you he doesn't like to sit in his office.

April 9, 2012
The Carter Center at 30: Leader in Disease Eradication and Elimination
The Carter Center has become a global leader in the eradication and elimination of diseases, focusing efforts to build health and hope in some of the poorest and most isolated places on earth.

March 26, 2012
Meet Dr. Zerihun Tadesse Gebrelassie
Zerihun Tadesse Gebrelassie barely remembers his mother rushing his baby brother to a hospital in Ethiopia.  Many patients, long lines, and few health workers made her wish she had a relative — maybe one who was a nurse — who could help her son.  His little brother survived, but Dr. Zerihun says his mother never forgot that scene.

Jan. 23, 2012
Salissou Kane: Niger's Trachoma Control Campaign Employs Lessons Learned in Guinea Worm Fight
Completely eliminating a disease from a country twice the size of Texas is no easy task. Salissou Kane, the Carter Center's country representative for Niger learned this time and again during more than two decades fighting Guinea worm in his homeland. Now that the disease has been wiped out nationwide, Kane is using his hard-won knowledge of Niger's complex multicultural communities to tackle to the bacterial eye disease trachoma.

Jan. 3, 2012
Building Better Lives, Brick by Brick
The Carter Center works in some of the world's most remote and impoverished communities. These are areas beyond where the road ends, with no power grid, and limited access to outside markets. For health workers striving to eliminate Guinea worm disease in South Sudan, this means many essential items, like building supplies for a new case containment center, are virtually non-existent. However, with a little ingenuity, the staff members of the South Sudan Guinea Worm Eradication Program are blazing their own path, and building the bricks needed for success.

Sept. 26, 2011
Profile: Dr. Andrew Seidu Korkor
When Dr Andrew Seidu Korkor describes the debilitating pain caused by Guinea worm disease and how it devastates communities, he's not just making a professional observation.  For this national manager of Ghana's Guinea Worm Eradication Program it's personal.

Aug. 5, 2011
Sadi Moussa: Public Health Worker Begins Third Decade of Improving Lives, Battling Guinea Worm and Trachoma in Mali
"I think I have something to share with another country" says Sadi Moussa, explaining why he recently relocated to Mali to help tackle public health problems after almost two decades doing similar work in his home country of Niger.

May 1, 2011
Thon Mayom: Case Containment Center Offers Hope, Relief for Boy
At bedtime, under a blue mosquito net, two boys lie on a mat and whisper secrets from the day just passed. Six-year-old Thon Mayom falls asleep quickly. He is exhausted from two sessions that day to treat a worm emerging from his knee. His 5-year-old brother, Mawut, drifts off to sleep too. His job is to look after his big brother during the difficult treatment.

June 21, 2010
Nomadic Groups Pose Challenge in Push to Eliminate Guinea Worm Disease From Southern Sudan (Video Feature)
The lives of an estimated 70 percent of the people living in Southern Sudan are intrinsically entwined with their cattle.

May 17, 2010
Guinea Worm Eradication Efforts Gain Further Momentum With Significant Case Reductions in 2009
The Carter Center-led drive to eradicate Guinea worm disease gained significant momentum in 2009, with an all-time low of 3,190 total cases reported – a 31 percent decrease from 2008.

May 11, 2010
Guinea Worm Village Volunteer Viviana Kolong Works to Protect Her Community from Debilitating Disease
It is early morning in Molujore village of Terekeka County in Southern Sudan, and Viviana Kolong, a 30-year-old mother of three, dresses carefully in a cool, yellow and white cotton dress and orange flip flops, adding a black bracelet and white beaded rosary to complete her outfit. As the wind picks up and the temperature starts its punishing rise, Kolong leaves her mud hut, passing by her home's empty grain stores. As usual, it will be a long day.

March 1, 2010
Gen. Dr. Yakubu Gowon Stands as Hero in Guinea Worm Eradication
The last case of Guinea worm disease in Nigeria was suffered by Grace Otubu, 58, of Ezza Nkwubor village in Enugu state, whose worm emerged in November 2008. Twelve months later, Nigeria triumphed over the ancient, crippling affliction, also known as dracunculiasis, that had affected hundreds of thousands of Nigerians at its peak. The success of Africa's most populous nation against this debilitating waterborne parasite would not have been possible without the hard work of the endemic communities, the relentless vigilance of the national program, and the dedication of Gen. Dr. Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria's former head of state.

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.

July 15, 2008
Sadia Revisited:  A Young Girl's Triumph Over Guinea Worm Disease
During 2007, Sadia Mesuna, 6, spent two months at a Guinea worm containment center in Ghana after an outbreak of the disease in her hometown of Savelugu, in the Northern Region.  She was in agony as three Guinea worms emerged from her feet.

March 1, 2008
Within Reach: Guinea Worm Eradication in Ghana (PDF)
Published March 2008 by The Carter Center.
A painful and debilitating condition, Guinea worm disease has plagued Ghana since ancient times. In 1988, Ghana joined an international effort to eradicate the disease and has made remarkable progress over the past 20 years. Guinea worm has been found in the most forgotten communities, where there is little or no access to safe water.

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. Related Video: Guinea Worm's Last Stand – Southern Sudan >

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.