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2023 Guinea Worm Eradication Program Media Coverage

Gates Foundation: President Jimmy Carter, Champion of Global Health

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has been a longtime source of inspiration, counsel, and wisdom to many in the global health community. For decades, he has led the campaign to make Guinea worm disease the second-ever human disease (after smallpox) to be eradicated, and he has championed many other health causes, from the elimination of several other neglected tropical diseases to mental health and HIV/AIDs. Learn more »

LA Times: Jimmy Carter’s Final Foe: A Parasitic Worm That Preyed on Millions in Africa and Asia

Just a few hours before President Carter underwent his first radiation treatment for brain cancer, he spoke of his hope, in the time he had left, to purge the world of a parasitic worm disease. That was in 2015. “I’d like the last Guinea worm to die before I do,” the 39th president told reporters at the Carter Center. Learn more »

Un Dispatch: How Guinea Worm Disease Came to the Cusp of Global Eradication

At the center of the global campaign to eradicate guinea worm disease is the Carter Center Joining me from Mali is Adam Joseph Weiss, director of the Guinea Worm Eradication Program at the Carter Center who explains why Guinea Worm Disease may be the second disease (after smallpox) to ever become eradicated thanks to human effort. Learn more »

Health Policy Watch: Bringing Neglected Tropical Diseases out of the Silo

According to a report last week by The Carter Center, great progress toward eliminating guinea worm has been made, with the number of human cases annually falling from 3.5 million in the mid-1980s to just 13 cases in 2022, poising it to become the second disease in human history that could be eradicated altogether. Learn more »

VOA: Global Guinea Worm Infections Continue Downward Trend

“We had six human cases in Chad, five human cases in South Sudan, and one in Ethiopia and one in the Central African Republic on the border with Chad,” Adam Weiss, director of the Carter Center’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program, told VOA during a recent Skype interview. Learn more »

World NTD Day 2023 Video

Jan. 30, 2023, marked the fourth annual World NTD Day, highlighting the global community’s commitment to ending neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that cause immeasurable suffering among the world’s most marginalized communities. Together The Carter Center and our partners celebrated hard-earned progress to #EndtheNeglect and #BeatNTDs. Learn more »

VOA: WHO: Over 1.6B People Infected with Neglected Tropical Diseases

According to the Carter Center, there were only 13 human cases of Guinea worm disease last year, pushing the illness closer to eradication. The Atlanta-based center was co-founded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter. Learn more »

VOA Learning English: Despite Success, More Work to be Done Fighting Guinea Worm

The Carter Center said recently that only 13 human cases of Guinea worm disease were reported worldwide last year. That is a major drop from 3.5 million cases of infected people in 1986. Audio package: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/6935557.html Learn more »

CBC Radio: Doctors Have Nearly Eradicated a 'Terrifying' Disease — Without a Cure or Vaccine

When doctors first started trying to eradicate Guinea worm disease nearly four decades ago, more than 3.5 million people were infected. Last year, that number dropped to 13. Now The Carter Center, which has spearheaded the fight against the disease, says it's in the final — and, perhaps most difficult — stage of completely eradicating it in humans. Learn more »

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Carter Center Sees Hope in Fewest Cases Ever of Guinea Worm Disease

Adam Weiss, director of the Carter Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program, saw his first case of Guinea worm disease as a Peace Corps volunteer in 2003. “I had never heard of Guinea worm before arriving in Ghana,” he said. Learn more »

As It Happens with Nil Köksal, Chris Howden: Doctors Have Nearly Eradicated a 'Terrifying' Disease — Without a Cure or Vaccine

When doctors first started trying to eradicate Guinea worm disease nearly four decades ago, more than 3.5 million people were infected. Last year, that number dropped to 13. Donald R. Hopkins, a special advisor for Guinea worm eradication at the Carter Center, tells As It Happens host Nil Köksal how they did it. Learn more »

Associated Press: Guinea Worm Eradication Effort Enters ‘Most Difficult’ Phase

“We are truly in the midst of that last mile and experiencing firsthand that it is going to be a very long and arduous last mile,” Adam Weiss, director of The Carter Center’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program, told The Associated Press. “Not so much as it taking more than the next seven years – five to seven years – but just knowing that it’s going to be a slow roll to get to zero.” Learn more »

Al Jazeera: Effort to Eradicate Guinea Worm Disease Enters ‘Last Mile’

Only 13 human cases of Guinea worm disease were reported worldwide last year, according to the Carter Center in the United States. After decades of progress, Adam Weiss, director of The Carter Center’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program, cautioned the end phase of the global effort to eradicate the parasitic disease will be "the most difficult." Learn more »

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Carter Center: Guinea Worm Disease One Step Closer to Eradication

When the Carter Center assumed leadership of the global Guinea Worm Eradication Program in 1986, about 3.5 million people in Africa and Asia were afflicted with the debilitating illness caused by the parasite. Learn more »

The Guardian: Guinea Worm Disease Could be Second Ever Human Illness to be Eradicated

The number of cases of a painful and debilitating tropical illness fell last year to a record low, fuelling hopes that it will soon become the second human disease in history to be eradicated. Only 13 cases of guinea worm disease were reported worldwide in 2022, a provisional figure that if confirmed would be the smallest ever documented, the US-based Carter Center has said. Learn more »

The World: The Difficult 'Last Mile' Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease

The World's host Marco Werman speaks with Adam Weiss, director of the Carter Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program. The Carter Center says Guinea worm disease is close to be eradicated. Only 13 human cases were reported worldwide last year. Learn more »

Associated Press: Guinea worm Eradication Effort Enters ‘Most Difficult’ Phase

The Carter Center said Tuesday that only 13 human cases of Guinea worm disease were reported worldwide last year.After decades of progress, the eradication program’s director cautioned the end phase of the global effort to eradicate the parasitic disease will be “the most difficult.” Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=452IK8nIJlM Learn more »

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