Success Stories from Our Members in the field

Proven Partnership for the Prevention and Eradication of Illness, World Vision, USA for Unicef, the Carter Center, the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNDP, the Peace Corps, the World Bank and several governments
May 11, 2002

It's hard to imagine that a harmful parasite can be eradicated from entire countries-even entire continents. But that is precisely what is happening with dracunculiasis, also known as guinea worm, which two decades ago afflicted millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa, India and Pakistan.

People contract guinea worm by drinking contaminated water. Once ingested in the body, the organisms develop into worms and break through to the skin. While guinea worm is not fatal, many infected people suffer for almost a year. Frequently, adults are too weak to work and children cannot attend school.

In the mid-1980s, international health organizations came together to launch a campaign to eradicate guinea worm. Partners include the American nongovernmental organizations World Vision and USA for Unicef, the Carter Center, the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNDP, the Peace Corps, the World Bank and several governments.

There is no cure or immunization for guinea worm: prevention is key. Teaching people to strain drinking water, keeping infected people from shared water sources, and destroying the organisms with larvicide have proven effective.

Throughout the 1980s, guinea worm affected 3.5 million people. Since the start of the campaign, the number of people infected has declined 98 percent. By 1993, the disease had disappeared from Pakistan, three years later from India. In 2001, there were only 64,000 cases reported -- 80 percent of those in Sudan. Experts believe the disease may be extinct in all countries, except Sudan, by the end of 2004.

The near-eradication of guinea worm disease is an outstanding example of a working partnership between the public and private that can achieve a long-term benefit for some of the world's poorest people.