Former US president Jimmy Carter said there are now fewer than 5,000 cases of Guinea worm disease in the world, the lowest ever, and that to help eradicate the disease altogether, the Carter Center campaign has received pledges totalling 55 million US dollars from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK’s Department for International Development.
Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University, founded the Carter Center in 1982 to advance peace and health worldwide. Speaking at a press conference in Atlanta, home of the Carter Center, on Saturday, Jimmy Carter said:
“Guinea worm is poised to be the second disease eradicated from Earth, ending needless suffering for millions of people from one of the world’s oldest and most horrific afflictions.”
“The reduction of Guinea worm cases by more than 99 percent proves that when people work together, great positive change is possible,” added the former US president.
The Gates Foundation has promised 40 million dollars: the largest challenge grant the Carter Center has ever received. The pledge includes an outright contribution of 8 million, and the remaining 32 million is offered as a “challenge” to other donors: the Foundation will match up to 32 million, every dollar that individuals and groups give to the campaign. In total, this challenge pledge, if complete, will raise 72 million dollars to wipe out Guinea worm altogether.
Carter said that the Gates Foundation has been a valued partner in the Guinea Worm Eradication Program since 2000, inspiring others to pour funds into the campaign.
The UK’s DFID, which has been supporting the Carter Center’s global peace and disease-fighting efforts since 1997, has pledged 10 million pounds (about 15 million US dollars), and that will also be matched by the Gates Foundation. The joint grants will be shared by the Carter Center and the World Health Organization (WHO).
UK’s secretary for international development, Douglas Alexander said:
“We have made substantial progress; many countries that previously had Guinea worm are now free of the disease.”
“We must now push to eliminate it completely,” he added.
Guinea Worm disease (dracunculiasis) will be the first to be wiped off the face of the Earth without using vaccines or drugs. But the last few cases are the most difficult and the most expensive because as cases reduce, surveillance of potentially affected communities, especially remote ones, needs to be intensified to stop outbreaks and setbacks. Rapid response, with broad and sensitive monitoring, is not cheap.
Guinea Worm disease is spread through drinking contaminated water and has a one year incubation period, at the end of which the 3ft worm emerges through agonising skin blisters in the feet and legs. There is no cure and treatment comprises twisting the worm around a stick and turning it a few inches every day. The disease can cripple.
Guinea Worm disease is a marker of severe poverty and affects communities where there is no safe drinking water. People with the disease can’t go to school, work on their farms, or do other many other things, which increases the poverty.
Prevention and control of the disease is not technically complicated: just simple things like filtering drinking water, using larvicide (donated by BASF) and educating people to understand the risks of infection and transmission are the most effective measures.
Director General of the WHO, Dr Margaret Chan, said:
“At this stage of the campaign, we need to redouble case containment efforts and enforce strict surveillance activities to ensure Guinea worm disease eradication.”
“The task is daunting and financially challenging, but achievable. To do this in the shortest time possible, we need more than ever, the exemplary support and commitment of existing and future partners to rid the world of one of its oldest scourges,” she added.
The Carter Center will continue to work in each country affected by the disease until one year after the last case indigenous case is detected, after which that country’s health authorities, together with the WHO will keep surveillance going for another three years. The WHO also helps afffected countries establish surveillance in disease-free areas.
Since the Carter Center started its Guinea Worm eradication program in 1986, the WHO has certified six countries where the disease was endemic as free of the disease, and eight more countries are waiting for certification because they have also stopped the disease.
There are now only 6 African countries affected by Guinea Worm. Up to October 2008, only 4,410 cases of Guinea Worm were reported in Sudan, Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Niger. This compares to 20 countries in Asia and Africa with 3.5 million affected people in 1986. That is a reduction of 99.7 per cent.
Nigeria and Niger may have reported their last case already, so the campaing is now focusing on southern Sudan, northern Ghana, and eastern Mali.
Dr Regina Rabinovich, director of infectious diseases development at the Gates Foundation, said:
“The drive to eradicate Guinea worm disease is one of the world’s most impressive global health success stories.”
“Using simple inexpensive tools, The Carter Center and its partners have spared millions of people from the suffering caused by this disease,” she added.
Click here to find out more about Guinea worm and see a video presentation (Carter Center).
Sources: Carter Center.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD