News & Publications

Guinea Worm Eradication Program - In The News

 

March 17, 2010
Mali: Hoping to Eradicate Guinea Worm in Two Years
This article was published March 17, 2010, by IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks).
Mali is hoping to eradicate guinea-worm in the next two years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

Feb. 19, 2010
Carter: Eradication of Guinea worm disease near in Sudan
This article was published Feb. 19, 2010, by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Former President Jimmy Carter said Friday that Sudan has made significant progress in its fight against Guinea worm disease.

 

Feb. 19, 2010
Carter: Parasitic Guinea Worm Cases Hit Record Low
This article was distributed by the Associated Press.
Global cases of Guinea worm disease have dropped to a new all-time low, former President Jimmy Carter said Friday, and health officials hope the infection that culminates in worms emerging from a victim's skin can be eliminated within two years.

 

Feb. 18, 2010
Miraya 101 FM Audio Feature: Jimmy Carter Discusses Guinea Worm Eradication During His Five Day Visit to Sudan
Miraya 101 FM is a United Nations Mission in the Sudan-run radio station in Southern Sudan. They work to provide independent and impartial news to national, regional, and international audiences in an effort to support democratic governance. Note: This is an .mp3 audio file.

 

Feb. 17, 2010
"Sudan in Pictures" Features Visit of Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) regularly produces a series of pictorials called "Sudan in Pictures" to keep its staff and the public informed about activities in Sudan. The February 2010 edition of "Sudan in Pictures" features the visit of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to the region.

 

Feb. 17, 2010
Stamping out the Guinea worm 'dragons' of Sudan
This article was published Feb. 17, 2010, by AFP (Agence France-Presse).
Scars on Severion Wayet's arms reveal where the flesh-burrowing Guinea worms burst through her skin. It was an agonising process that lasted days as the worms, measuring around one metre (three feet) in length, fought their way out of her body.

 

Feb. 17, 2010
Sudan: Final Push to Eradicate Guinea Worm
This article was published Feb. 17, 2010, by IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks).
Guinea worm, the agonizing water-borne parasite, could be eradicated within "two to three years" from Southern Sudan, health officials say.

 

Jan. 26, 2010
And Then There Were Four: More Countries Beat Guinea Worm Disease
This article was published Jan. 26, 2010, by the British Medical Journal (BMJ 2010;340:c496 ).
The number of countries remaining affected by guinea worm disease, or dracunculiasis, fell by two last year, leaving just four countries in Africa that continue to harbour the waterborne parasitic disease.

 

Dec. 31, 2009
Uganda Stamps Out Guinea Worm Disease
This article was published Dec. 31, 2009, by Daily Monitor/Monitor Publications Ltd.
Since 1991, Uganda has been campaigning to eradicate the Guinea worm. 18 years later, the ancient parasitic disease has been completely eliminated from the country, according to the World Health Organisation, making it the second major disease after smallpox to be wiped out.

 

Dec. 22, 2009
Carter Center Nears Goal Against Guinea Worm
This article was published Dec. 22, 2009, by Voice of America.
In the last 12 months, no case of Guinea worm disease has been found in Nigeria.  It's a major step in former President Jimmy Carter's effort to eradicate the parasitic disease worldwide. The Carter Center has been leading the battle against Guinea worm - in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. Watch video >>

 

Dec. 9, 2009
Carter Center Landmark in Disease Eradication
This article was published Dec. 9, 2009, by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Carter Center declared another major step in ridding the world of guinea worm disease. Nigeria, once the worst-afflicted country in the world with 653,000 cases, has not reported a case in 12 months, said Dr. Donald R. Hopkins, chairman of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, which is based at the Carter Center. Only four countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali and Sudan – still report guinea worm disease. About 3,000 were found as of last month, down from three million when former President Jimmy Carter began his efforts.

 

Dec. 7, 2009
Campaign to Eradicate Guinea Worm in Hard-Hit Nigeria May Have Worked
This article was published Dec. 7, 2009, by The New York Times.
After 20 years, the Carter Center is ready to declare a major victory in its war on guinea worm: Nigeria, once the worst-afflicted country in the world, appears to be free of the worms.

 

Nov. 17, 2009
A Killer Blow to Guinea Worm (PDF)
This article was published in the Nov. 9, 2009 ,edition of The News magazine.
At last, Nigeria is on its way to being free from the deadly and economically debilitating Guinea worm infection. This was the good news that came out of the recent three-day stock-taking stakeholders meeting in Abuja organized by the Carter Center. The Center and its partners have been involved in efforts to eradicate Guinea worm disease across the globe.

 

Oct. 5, 2009
Sudan Wages War on Guinea Worms
World Focus video report on Sudan's Guinea worm elimination campaign, in association with the Global Health Frontline News Project.  Distributed to PBS stations nationwide.  (Run time:  3:11)

Oct. 4, 2009
It's Bye to Guinea Worm
This editorial was published October 4, 2009, on www.newswatchngr.com.
Latest statistics on Guinea Worm cases in Nigeria show that the country has won the battle to eradicate the disease.



Sept. 22, 2009
Chasing the Worm
This article was published Sept. 22, 2009, by the British Medical Journal 2009;339:b3892.
New cases of guinea worm disease in southern Sudan have recently fallen from 20 000 a year to an estimated 1500, and doctors are hoping that the disease will become the second in history to be eliminated.

 

Sept. 2, 2009
Countdown to Wipe Out Guinea Worm in Ghana (PDF)
Published September 2009 in the World Health Organization Bulletin. Volume 87, Number 9, September 2009, 645-732. Ghana could be one of the next African countries to say goodbye to Guinea worm. Amamata Sumani is on the front line in the war against Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis) in Ghana – a front line that shrinks every year as the parasitic nematode retreats into its last remain­ing strongholds in the north of the country. Dracunculiasis transmission can be interrupted at two places in the parasites' life-cycle – by preventing people with open sores from contami­nating water sources, and by filtering drinking water.

 

July 12, 2009
Ghana Fights Guinea Worm
This editorial was published by Voice of America on July 12, 2009.
Guinea worm disease, a painful and crippling parasite affliction, has been almost entirely eradicated in Ghana, thanks to the tireless efforts of village-based volunteers and ministry of health staff, with assistance from The Carter Center, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and other partner organizations.

 

July 4, 2009
Guinea Worm Nears Demise
Carter Center has 2010 goal for Africa, Asia. Since 1986, program focused on eradicating parasite in 20 countries. Philip Downs of Atlanta will know he is successful when he no longer has a job. Downs, 34, is the assistant director of the Guinea Worm Eradication Program at the Carter Center. After 23 years, the partners in the fight believe they are 18 months from success.

 

June 25, 2009
Ghana: Guinea Worm Eradication Program Gets Results in Country
This article, from AllAfrica.com, was originally published June 25, 2009, on America.gov.
Guinea worm disease, which has crippled millions in Africa and Asia, is nearly vanquished in Ghana, thanks to the efforts of the Carter Center, which has been working with health workers in that country over the last 20 years.

 

April 4, 2009
The Lancet: "Africa Sees Obstacles to Guinea Worm Disease Eradication"
This article was published in the April 4, 2009, edition of The Lancet and is reprinted with permission.
Experts are stepping up their efforts to eradicate guinea worm disease from the world. But the final push will not be easy in the six African countries with remaining cases, Wairagala Wakabi reports.

 

March 1, 2009
Al Jazeera: "Guinea Worm Disease Afflicting Hundreds in Ghana"
Al Jazeera's Dan Nolan visited a village in northern Ghana where health officials are working to help people affected by the guinea worm, which can grow up to one-meter long inside the bodies of its victims.

 

March 1, 2009
The Lancet Infectious Diseases:  "The End is Nigh for Guinea Worm Disease"
Eradication of Guinea worm disease, caused by the nematode parasite Dracunculus medinensis, is now close at hand. Cases fell to from 3.5 million cases in 1986 to a provisional 4643 cases in 2008, a reduction of 99.5 percent. "Only 1972 of last year's cases were uncontained," reported Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben, Director of the Guinea Worm Eradication Program at the Carter Center (Atlanta, GA, USA). Reprinted with permission from The Lancet.

 

Feb. 18, 2009

CNN's "Impact Your World" on "Eradicating a Parasite"
This news segment features former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Dr. Donald Hopkins, vice president of the Carter Center's health programs, discussing the international campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease.

 

Feb. 3, 2009
CNN's "Inside Africa" "Guinea Worm Nearly Eradicated" Features Kelly Callahan
Carter Center expert Kelly Callahan was featured on CNNI's "Inside Africa" to discuss Guinea worm and Sudan.  "Inside Africa" is a half-hour current affairs weekly program that provides global viewers with an inside look at political, economic, social and cultural affairs and trends in Africa.

 

Jan. 20, 2009
Grants Push Guinea Worm to All-time Low
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced last month that cases of Guinea worm disease have reached an all-time low with fewer than 5,000 estimated cases remaining worldwide. To help eliminate the remaining cases, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) announced new commitments totaling $55 million to support the historic Carter Center-led eradication campaign.

 

Dec. 10, 2008
Good Riddance, Guinea Worm
GOOD News is a video news program produced by GOOD magazine's Web site. Host Roger Numbers, an animated character, conducts interviews on a wide range of issues including science, history, and economics.  In this video, Roger interviews Carter Center expert Kelly Callahan on the Dec. 2008 Guinea worm announcement of fewer than 5,000 cases remaining worldwide.

 

Sept. 1, 2008
Killing the Worm
Published in GOOD Magazine, Issue 012, pages 106-115.
Disease eradication hasn't had a success since smallpox in 1979. Now, Guinea worm disease—in which a three-foot long worm burrows through its victim's body—is holding out in just a few African countries. The quest to wipe it out is slow and controversial, but the finish line is in sight.

 

Aug. 23, 2008
Financial Times Feature:  The Worm That Turned Back
Published in the Financial Times, Aug. 23, 2008, Weekend Edition, pages 15-18.
When Makoy Samuel Yibi Logora was growing up in a village in southern Sudan, no one there knew what caused Guinea worm. But they certainly understood its effects. The skin swells and becomes infected as a thin white parasitic worm takes several weeks to emerge slowly, agonisingly, through a huge blister.

 

May 10, 2008
Donald R Hopkins: Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease
This article was published in the May 10, 2008 edition of The Lancet. Online signup is required to read the full article.
Disease eradication has proven to be a rare and maddeningly elusive goal for global-health experts over the years. Despite Herculean attempts to abolish malaria, yellow fever, polio, and other scourges, only the smallpox campaign has been completely successful. But now efforts to eliminate Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis) look likely to succeed. One man has been on the front lines of both successful eff orts: Carter Center Vice President for Health Programs Donald R Hopkins.

 

March 31, 2008
A Village Woman's Legacy (PDF)
This article was published in the Mar. 31, 2008, edition of TIME magazine.
An encounter with the victim of an old scourge gave a former President a new worldview—and a mission.

 

Nov. 28, 2007
Carter Center Expert Donald Hopkins Receives Prestigious Fries Prize for Guinea Worm Eradication Leadership
Poised to be the first parasitic disease eradicated in human history, Guinea worm disease now teeters on the verge of extinction. The 2007 Fries Prize for Improving Health was bestowed on Donald R. Hopkins, M.D., M.P.H., Carter Center vice president for health programs, for his sustained leadership in the global campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis), a debilitating parasitic infection contracted from drinking contaminated water.

 

Oct. 24, 2007
Persistence Pays Off in Guinea Worm Fight (PDF)
©2007 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission of J.A.M.A.
Last February, when Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben, Ph.D., accompanied former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his staff to Savelugu, Ghana, they were greeted with a heart-wrenching sight. More than 300 people, mostly children, flocked to a makeshift dracunculiasis clinic, hoping to obtain relief for pain so intense that the ancient Egyptians had called it a fiery serpent.

June 22, 2007
New England Journal of Medicine Feature: The Tail End of Guinea Worm — Global Eradication without a Drug or a Vaccine
The New England Journal of Medicine's June 21 issue features, " The Tail End of Guinea Worm — Global Eradication without a Drug or a Vaccine," by  Michele Barry, M.D.,  and includes four PowerPoint photo and data presentations.


June 22, 2007
New England Journal of Medicine: Interview with Jimmy Carter and Donald Hopkins on the Near-Eradication of Guinea Worm Disease
Supplement to: Barry M. The Tail End of Guinea Worm — Global Eradication without a Drug or a Vaccine. N Engl J Med 2007;356(25):2561-4.

May 12, 2007
Chicago Tribune Feature: Doctor Without Borders
In a dusty, open-air treatment center in Savelugu, Ghana, where patients are crying in pain, Dr. Donald R. Hopkins once again meets his enemy: Guinea worm disease.


May 10, 2007
Chicago Tribune Three-Part Video Feature: Lifting the Guinea Worm Curse
This feature contains three separate videos, "Still Inflicting Pain," "The Worm Killer," and "Front Line of Care."


April 4, 2007
Case Studies in Global Health: Millions Saved
Written by Ruth Levine, Ph.D, Case Studies in Global Health: Millions Saved highlights 20 original public health large-scale success cases. The Guinea worm disease eradication campaign and river blindness control campaign are featured chapters in the book.


March 16, 2007
Associated Press: Tough Fight in Final Struggle to Eradicate 'Fiery Serpents' That Plagued Israelites
Savelugu, Ghana – The little girl screams in pain and convulsively reaches for the hand inflicting the torture -- the hand slowly drawing a thin, white worm from her blistered foot.

 

March 3,  2007
National Public Radio: Stamping Out Guinea Worm (PDF)
Guinea worm disease, long gone from the developed world, continues to persist in poorer nations. Now, a relentless effort to eradicate it in Nigeria is close to success. Soon, with help from U.S. donors, the Nigerian government and local health workers, guinea worm may be a problem of the past.

 

Feb. 18, 2007
New York Times Feature: Torture By Worms
Presidents are supposed to be strong, and on his latest visit to Africa Jimmy Carter proved himself strong enough to weep. Click here for official reprint (PDF).

July 1, 2006
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Editorial: Slaying Little Dragons: Lessons From The Dracunculiasis Eradication Program [PDF]
The word dracunculiasis comes from the Latin phrase "afflicted with little dragons." The global Dracunculiasis Eradication Program (DEP) spearheaded by President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center has quietly "inched" towards world eradication with stunning success.


March 26, 2006
New York Times Feature on Guinea Worm Disease: Dose of Tenacity Wears Down A Horrific Disease
"Dose of Tenacity Wears Down a Horrific Disease" by Donald G. McNeil Jr. is the second in The New York Times "On the Brink" series of articles about five diseases — polio, Guinea worm, measles, blinding trachoma and lymphatic filariasis — that are extinct in the developed world but stubbornly persistent in some poor nations. As the diseases hover on the brink of eradication, doctors and scientists face daunting obstacles as they struggle to finish the job.


Dec. 14, 2005
Health Magazine Profiles Center Staffer's Efforts in War-Torn Sudan 
The stories of five women--including Kelly Callahan--who traveled to the epicenter of human suffering in an effort to lend their support.


Nov. 1, 2005
National Geographic Guinea Worm Feature: The End of a Scourge?
Feature article from November 2005 issue of National Geographic.


July 27,  2004
To The Source: Guinea Worm Eradication in Africa
Feature article from Emory Magazine, Summer 2004, by Paige Parvin. Photos by Annemarie Poyo.

March 1, 2004
Africa Today Feature:  Guinea Worm Eradication in Ghana
All hands to the plough, the dream of former US President Jimmy Carter to bury the last Ghanaian Guinea worm in one of the fanciful Accra caskets may well be realised very soon

February 19, 2004
Africa Today Magazine Features Special Report on The Carter Center
The Nov. 2003 issue of Africa Today features former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, The Carter Center, and the Guinea Worm Eradication Program.

April 1, 2003
Guinea Worm Feature: Humanitarian Affairs Review
The Guinea worm parasite causes devastating disease, with far reaching consequences for development. But eradication, even in many remote regions, is within reach. Roger Phillips, Nigeria Program Consultant at The Carter Center, describes how basic hygiene and larvicide are putting end to suffering.