Chad

Current status: Endemic

Chad has waged a seesaw battle with Guinea worm disease since elimination efforts began in 1993 with Carter Center assistance. Transmission was believed to have stopped in 1999, but new cases emerged more than a decade later. The country was reclassified as endemic in 2012, and the health ministry asked the Center to assist with a revived eradication program. 

Our Work and Methods

The Carter Center continues to work with village volunteers and Ministry of Health officials to eliminate the disease and enhance surveillance. Our efforts include:

• Researching and identifying worm infections in animals — mostly domestic dogs — while encouraging owners to keep animals away from water sources to prevent infections
• Empowering volunteers to teach techniques to prevent contamination of drinking water, provide first aid, and report cases to public health authorities

Since the worms that infect animals are the same species (Dracunculus medinensis) as those that infect humans, eradication requires stopping infections in both.

Impacts

Partnerships are essential when it comes to eradicating diseases, and the Center has worked hard to ensure Chad has adequate support to make headway. 

Since 2011, program staff members have enhanced surveillance by training more than 2,500 village volunteers in more than 880 villages.

More information about Chad and Guinea worm disease can be found in our news section.

Chad is one of eight countries where we are helping to combat lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic infection that’s a leading cause of permanent and long-term disability worldwide. 

Our Work and Methods

In a partnership with Chad’s Ministry of Health and the Reaching the Last Mile Fund, the Center:

• Helps distribute Mectizan® and albendazole (donated by Merck & Co. Inc. and GSK, respectively) across the country to stop transmission of the disease
• Reviews Chad’s strategy for treatment and surveys

Impacts

The July 2025 mass drug administration reached an estimated 3 million people living in 27 districts across Chad, bringing the country one step closer to the goal of lymphatic filariasis elimination.

Chad is among the countries where the Center has expanded its efforts to eliminate transmission of river blindness, also known as onchocerciasis, one of the leading causes of preventable blindness worldwide.

Our Work and Methods

In a partnership with Chad’s Ministry of Health and the Reaching the Last Mile Fund, the Center:

• Helps distribute Mectizan®, donated by Merck & Co. Inc., across the country to stop transmission of the disease from infected to uninfected people
• Provides technical support through remote assistance and in-country supervision support of mass drug administration 
• Reviews Chad’s strategy for treatment and surveys

Impacts

Mass drug administration over four days in July 2025 targeted nearly 3 million people in 27 districts, moving Chad closer to the goal of river blindness elimination.