Niger

Beginning in the 1990s, The Carter Center has worked with ministries of health to combat Guinea worm disease and trachoma in Niger.

Impact

In 2013, Niger was certified by the World Health Organization as having eliminated Guinea worm disease.
Using lessons learned from the Guinea Worm Eradication Program, the country has made significant progress in preventing trachoma, a devastating bacterial disease that can result in blindness.

Characterizing Trachoma Elimination Using Serology

Article
Jul. 1, 2025

Effect of Biannual Mass Azithromycin Distributions to Preschool-Aged Children on Trachoma Prevalence in Niger

Article
Aug. 23, 2022

Effect of Mass Azithromycin Distributions on Childhood Growth in Niger: A Cluster-Randomized Trial

Article
Dec. 30, 2021

Active

Trachoma

How It Started

Starting in 1998, The Carter Center has used lessons learned from the Guinea Worm Eradication Program to work with Niger and partner organizations to fight trachoma, a major public health problem in the country. If left untreated, it can lead to blindness.

Our Work and Methods

From 1999 through 2008, the Center focused exclusively on health and hygiene education and environmental sanitation activities. Household latrine building and promotion has been a cornerstone of the program.
In late 2008, the Niger Ministry of Health and the National Prevention of Blindness Program asked partner organizations to support a multipronged approach called SAFE:
- Surgery to turn eyelashes back outward
- Antibiotics to treat trachoma infection
- Facial cleanliness through the provision of health education messages
- Environmental improvement by promoting the construction of household latrines and maintenance to reduce fly populations that may carry the disease
With support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, we expanded our assistance to include corrective eyelid surgeries for those at risk of blindness.

Impacts

From 2002 through 2024, local masons built 195,640 household latrines.
From 2008 through 2024, the Center helped provide more than 92,000 people with surgery for advanced trachoma.
From 2008 to 2011, The Carter Center helped distribute 3,780,384 doses of azithromycin to treat active trachoma infection and 100,973 doses of tetracycline eye ointment.
From 2018 through 2022, we helped distribute 450,000 doses of tetracycline eye ointment.
The Carter Center helped train schoolteachers to educate their students about trachoma control and broadcast 441,608 health education messages via radio. To reach people without access to radio, artists and health educators performed theatrical dramas in large villages and weekly markets, and religious and community leaders were trained to act as advocates.

Legacy

Guinea Worm

Current Status: Transmission stopped, October 2008
Certification of Dracunculiasis Elimination: 2013

How It Started

Since 1986, the Carter Center’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program has led a worldwide coalition to wipe out this devastating disease. In 1993, when the Center began working in five of Niger’s six endemic regions, there were approximately 33,000 cases of Guinea worm disease in 1,700 villages.

Our Work and Methods

With the Ministry of Health, The Carter Center implemented health education strategies aimed at changing behavior in order to prevent Guinea worm disease and mobilized communities to improve the safety of their local water sources.
We recruited and trained village volunteers to detect and report cases.
Also, we collaborated with local medical facilities to ensure that worms were removed safely to avoid contaminating water sources.

Impacts

Niger reported its last three indigenous cases in October 2008, and after 13 consecutive months with zero indigenous cases, Niger was determined to have broken Guinea worm transmission. However, neighboring Mali exported three cases to Niger in 2012.
Portable water filters, along with health education efforts, helped reduce the risks posed by migrant populations.