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Guinea Worm Eradication Program
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Stopping Guinea Worm Transmission:  Mauritania

Mauritania was one of four countries recognized Nov. 15, 2006, during a special ceremony at The Carter Center for stopping Guinea worm transmission for a 12-month period.  Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter presented awards to Mauritania, Benin, Central African Republic, and Uganda.

 

Mauritania
Mauritania's Guinea Worm Eradication program conducted a nationwide village by village search for cases of Guinea worm disease in 1990, and 8,301 cases from 511 villages were recorded. Interventions against transmission of the disease were implemented in 1992, and transmission in the last know endemic village was stopped in June 2004.

 
Mauritania Guinea Worm Eradication Program Overview

Traversing the Sahara to eradicate Guinea worm in Mauritania
For many Mauritanians living in the Sahara, water is scarce, adding increased value to an already important resource. When it is available, the water quality is often poor and unsafe to drink, putting populations at risk for Guinea worm disease.

An ancient parasite, Guinea worm has plagued the people of Africa for thousands of years, crippling its victims and preventing them from participating in daily activities. With help from the Carter Center, Mauritania's Guinea Worm Eradication Program began interventions against transmission of the disease in endemic communities.

Today, Guinea worm has been eliminated from Mauritania and almost wiped out from the rest of the world—making it only the second infectious disease in history to be eradicated and the first without a vaccine or treatment.

Although easily preventable through health education and the use of water filters, Guinea worm disease eradication in Mauritania is challenged by the need to cross parts of the Sahara desert to reach isolated and remote areas.  Camels, horses, and donkeys have been employed to help reach these communities so that monthly supervision of training and case reporting could be implemented. Mauritania's hard work is paying off as the country has now stopped transmission.  With continued vigilance, Mauritania will eliminate Guinea worm once and for all, sparing whole communities from future suffering from the disease.


Highlights on the campaign to eradicate Guinea worm in Mauritania and beyond:

  • Much of Mauritania is part of the Sahara desert so water is scarce and water quality is poor. 
  • Guinea worm is a parasitic infection transmitted through stagnant drinking water -  so old,  it has been mentioned in ancient Egyptian medical texts.
  • It is a very painful and debilitating disease endemic to the poorest and most forgotten communities of the world. 
  • Because there is so little water available in Mauritania, water-borne disease particularly burdens communities.
  • Donkeys and camels had to be used to traverse the Sahara when visiting some of the more isolated Mauritanian communities to conduct prevention and surveillance activities.
  • Guinea worm disease transmission has been stopped in Mauritania and 10 other countries out of 20 endemic nations when the campaign began in 1986.
  • With no vaccine or medicine for the affliction, Guinea worm will be the first disease eradicated solely through the use of health education and prevention methods such as the use of cloth water filters.
  • To combat the disease in Mauritania, The Carter Center provided financial assistance and annual donations of cloth filters and the mild larvacide ABATE to the program. The Human Development Initiative and UNICEF also provided financial assistance. Technical assistance was provided by Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. The U.S. Peace Corps assisted the country's Guinea Worm Eradication Program by providing health education and social mobilization at the village level. 
The Carter Center is a not-for-profit organization founded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, and works to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope around the world.