Via The Great Beyond, the Carter Center announces that worldwide cases of nasty, painful Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis) have fallen to 5,000 per year. With the goal of eradicating the disease completely, the Center announces a challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to raise $72 million, along with a pledge of £10 million from the United Kingdom Department for International Development.
Endemic in twenty countries of central Africa and the Indian subcontinent in 1986, the disease remains active in only six. Reported cases have dropped by about half from last year.
There were only 9,585 cases of Guinea worm disease recorded in 2007, reduced from 25,217 cases in 2006. In 2007, both the Ghanaian and Sudanese programs, which together accounted for more than 95 percent of all cases in 2007, achieved individual milestones, slashing cases by more than half compared to 2006.
In the first 10 months of 2008, only 4,410 cases of Guinea worm disease were reported in Sudan, Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Niger. Cases are expected to remain below 5,000 for the year. Two countries—Nigeria and Niger—already may have reported their last case. Today, southern Sudan, northern Ghana, and eastern Mali are the main foci of eradication efforts.
The disease is spread through drinking water. Like some other devastating diseases (malaria, for instance), Guinea worm disease can be controlled with relatively simple technology. Simple cloth water filters are key to eradication efforts.