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Eradication of dracunculiasis
The eradication of dracunculiasis, or Guinea worm disease, is an ongoing program. Dracunculiasis is an infection by the Guinea worm that causes severe pain and open wounds when guinea worms exit the body through the skin. In 1986, there were an estimated 3.5 million cases of Guinea worm in 20 endemic nations in Asia and Africa. The number of human cases has since been reduced by more than 99.999%, to the range of 10–15 per year in 2021–2025, with only six countries remaining to be certified free of transmission: Chad, South Sudan, Mali, Ethiopia, Angola, and Sudan. Cameroon has also had some cases in recent years, primarily due to its proximity to Chad, but was previously certified free of internal transmission.
The campaign has been spearheaded by the Carter Center and other members of the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, with former U.S. president Jimmy Carter as part of its deworming programs, designed to eliminate neglected tropical diseases. Discussing his diagnosis of melanoma (which had metastasized to his brain), Carter said in 2015 that his last wish was to see the last Guinea worm dead before he was. Carter died in 2024 without quite seeing that wish fulfilled.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the recognized international body that certifies whether a disease has been eliminated from a country or eradicated from the world. The WHO renewed its expressed intent to accelerate the eradication of dracunculiasis at its World Health Assembly in May 2025. The Carter Center issues frequent reports on the status of the Guinea worm eradication program, including country-by-country statistics.
As of 2024, the WHO goal for eradication in humans and animals is the year 2030. Previously, 1991, 2009, 2015, and 2020 were set as target years, but full eradication of dracunculiasis has proven to be much more difficult than originally thought, after the discovery of non-human animal hosts. Although the frequency of human cases has plateaued since the beginning of 2021, the frequency of cases in animals has continued to trend downward. Guinea worm is poised to be the second human disease to be eradicated, after smallpox.
Formerly, humans were believed to be the only host for Guinea worms, and it was thought that once all human cases were eliminated, the disease cycle would be broken, resulting in its eradication. However, in the mid-2010s, it became clear that dracunculiasis had other animal hosts besides humans, greatly complicating eradication efforts, which now also had to be expanded to non-human hosts.
The eradication of Guinea worm disease has faced several challenges:
In January 2012 the WHO meeting at the Royal College of Physicians in London launched the most ambitious and largest coalition health project ever, known as London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases which aims to end/control dracunculiasis by 2020, among other neglected tropical diseases. This project is supported by all major pharmaceutical companies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development, the United Kingdom Department for International Development, the Carter Center, and the World Bank, in cooperation with the governments of countries in which the disease is endemic.
By 2018, the disease was eliminated in 19 of 21 countries where it used to occur. By the end of the London Declaration programme, only 15 cases were recorded globally. Total eradication is projected by the Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases starting from 2022 to 2030.
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Eradication of dracunculiasis
The eradication of dracunculiasis, or Guinea worm disease, is an ongoing program. Dracunculiasis is an infection by the Guinea worm that causes severe pain and open wounds when guinea worms exit the body through the skin. In 1986, there were an estimated 3.5 million cases of Guinea worm in 20 endemic nations in Asia and Africa. The number of human cases has since been reduced by more than 99.999%, to the range of 10–15 per year in 2021–2025, with only six countries remaining to be certified free of transmission: Chad, South Sudan, Mali, Ethiopia, Angola, and Sudan. Cameroon has also had some cases in recent years, primarily due to its proximity to Chad, but was previously certified free of internal transmission.
The campaign has been spearheaded by the Carter Center and other members of the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, with former U.S. president Jimmy Carter as part of its deworming programs, designed to eliminate neglected tropical diseases. Discussing his diagnosis of melanoma (which had metastasized to his brain), Carter said in 2015 that his last wish was to see the last Guinea worm dead before he was. Carter died in 2024 without quite seeing that wish fulfilled.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the recognized international body that certifies whether a disease has been eliminated from a country or eradicated from the world. The WHO renewed its expressed intent to accelerate the eradication of dracunculiasis at its World Health Assembly in May 2025. The Carter Center issues frequent reports on the status of the Guinea worm eradication program, including country-by-country statistics.
As of 2024, the WHO goal for eradication in humans and animals is the year 2030. Previously, 1991, 2009, 2015, and 2020 were set as target years, but full eradication of dracunculiasis has proven to be much more difficult than originally thought, after the discovery of non-human animal hosts. Although the frequency of human cases has plateaued since the beginning of 2021, the frequency of cases in animals has continued to trend downward. Guinea worm is poised to be the second human disease to be eradicated, after smallpox.
Formerly, humans were believed to be the only host for Guinea worms, and it was thought that once all human cases were eliminated, the disease cycle would be broken, resulting in its eradication. However, in the mid-2010s, it became clear that dracunculiasis had other animal hosts besides humans, greatly complicating eradication efforts, which now also had to be expanded to non-human hosts.
The eradication of Guinea worm disease has faced several challenges:
In January 2012 the WHO meeting at the Royal College of Physicians in London launched the most ambitious and largest coalition health project ever, known as London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases which aims to end/control dracunculiasis by 2020, among other neglected tropical diseases. This project is supported by all major pharmaceutical companies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development, the United Kingdom Department for International Development, the Carter Center, and the World Bank, in cooperation with the governments of countries in which the disease is endemic.
By 2018, the disease was eliminated in 19 of 21 countries where it used to occur. By the end of the London Declaration programme, only 15 cases were recorded globally. Total eradication is projected by the Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases starting from 2022 to 2030.