Alwaleed Philanthropies "Global" Supports the Carter Center for Global Alliance’s Journey Towards Eradicating the Guinea Worm Disease
Highlights
Duration
2020 - 2024
Beneficiaries
1 million people
Targeting Range
Angola, Cameroon, Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia
In partnership with
What is the Guinea Worm Disease?
Guinea worm disease, also known as dracunculiasis, is caused by a parasitic worm that can grow several feet long inside an infected person's body, causing symptoms like fever, swelling, and pain.
Scientists discovered that the Guinea worm was spread through contaminated water, which drove governments and organizations to dig wells, install water filters, and educate villagers on preventing the spread of the disease. As a result, the number of cases has declined globally.
In fact, Guinea worm disease could become the second human disease in history, after smallpox, to be eradicated. It would also be the first parasitic disease to be eradicated and the first disease to be eradicated without the use of a vaccine or medicine.
How did the journey start?
The international drive to eliminate Guinea worm disease has been started by The Carter Center since 1986. In 2020, Alwaleed Philanthropies "Global" supported the Center's efforts by funding community-based prevention interventions that promote health awareness and monitor society. The project aims to benefit one million people.
About The Guinea Worm Eradication Program (GWEP)
The Guinea Worm Eradication Program has been working tirelessly in five African countries: Angola, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, and South Sudan.
The project is divided into four main steps: surveillance, containment, reporting, and interventions. The program maintained active surveillance of 7,425 villages, which were supervised by assigned village volunteers, trained to identify and report any potential cases of Guinea worm disease. For containment, the GWEP investigated 94% of the 216,173 rumors of potential cases in humans and animals within 24 hours. Out of the total reports received, 167,838 were rumors of potential human cases, and 12 of these resulted in laboratory-confirmed cases. This high level of containment has helped to prevent the disease from spreading to other communities.
To encourage reporting, the program has introduced cash rewards for individuals who report potential cases of Guinea worm disease. This initiative has been part of the health education program and has been instrumental in motivating community members to report cases quickly.
As for interventions, the program has been applying Abate® to all eligible sources every 28 days, starting two months before the transmission season and continuing until two months after no infections are reported. In addition, 100% of villages reporting one or more human or animal case of Guinea worm infection were protected with ABATE larvicide at least monthly during GW transmission periods. Moreover, 100% of villages reporting one or more human case or animal infection with no access to safe water had cloth filters installed.
The Efforts Have Paid Off!
In 2022, due to the efforts paid, only 14 provisional cases of Guinea worm disease occurred, a 48% drop from the previous year. These cases occurred in four countries in Africa, bringing the project closer to its goal of global eradication.
To celebrate the significant progress, a summit was held in March of 2022. The summit brought together partners who have supported the GWEP and encouraged them to continue their support in the last mile of eradicating this disease.
Today, thanks to the hard work of scientists and health workers around the world, the number of cases has dropped from millions to just a few hundred each year, and with the program's continued efforts, the goal of eradicating this disease may soon become a reality. It is essential to continue to support the program and help to improve the lives of millions of people affected by Guinea worm disease, to build a healthier, more equitable world for all.
Success Stories
Ethiopian commercial Farms Eliminate Tropical Diseases
Farmers in the Gambella Region of Ethiopia are suffering greatly due to the spread of Guinea worm disease and river blindness, which has been killing people for some time, as a result of the lack of clean drinking water, and the contamination in the pools of the Gambella Region.
While the Carter Center and the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health have been working for decades to eliminate guinea worm disease, river blindness and lymphatic filariasis among agricultural workers by spreading awareness, modifying behavior, and providing the necessary medication.
Despite the contamination of most of the water sources in Gambella, there was a farm that was not affected by the disease called (Saif Commercial Farm, where water is pumped from this hole dug by humans and transported by truck to irrigation stations for workers in the fields.
There the water is filtered with the aim of removing water fleas that may carry larvae guinea worm. Then the workers are also provided with personal pipe filters that farmers carry on their shoulders.
But Maul's farm was so badly infested that the owner of Maul's farm asked Adhom to let him work with a team to prevent guinea worm, as there are eighty-one holes and irrigation ponds of various sizes on the large farm and a large stagnant water canal nearby.
These water sources are perfect breeding grounds for Guinea worm disease, and there are more than thirty other ponds in hard-to-reach forest areas.
Adhom took it upon himself to clean the ponds of guinea worm larvae, and established a group (twenty-six of them work during the rainy season and ten during the dry season) and began treating all these water sources with calculated amounts of one of the chemicals donated by BASF, a chemical that kills guinea worm larvae.
Adhom has also developed and maintained an organized periodical calendar to ensure that each water source is treated every 28 days.
Of course, the task of the team was very difficult and dangerous, as the canal is teeming with crocodiles, the forests are crammed with snakes, and the lions are wandering in the camp. “It is a very hard work but I will stick to it until the end,” Adhom said.
Although he was working as a volunteer against Guinea worm in his village, he agreed to go to the farm to do the job. "But I am here and I will stay until they call me back to the village," he said.
Thus, Adhom set the most wonderful examples of volunteer work, and wrote an inspiring success story for all young people in Ethiopia, which shows strong will and hard work for the community health and their safety.
