With approximately 95 percent of the world’s remaining Guinea worm cases, South Sudan looks to be the final battleground in the fight to wipe out this debilitating worm worldwide. The Southern Sudan Guinea Worm Eradication Program, together with The Carter Center, has almost 10,000 dedicated local health workers on the ground, working everywhere from the bustling capital of Juba to the most remote villages imaginable.
The progress that the program has made – reducing cases from more than 20,500 in 2006 to fewer than 1,700 in 2010 – is a remarkable public health achievement. Almost as impressive are the logistics of this massive program, the support system and life line that allows thousands to do battle with the Guinea worm where it still lives, in impoverished villages with no access to safe water.
Listen as two of the people responsible for overseeing the care of millions describe what it takes to do public health work in what will soon be the world’s newest country, with limited infrastructure and virtually no industry.
The Carter Center leads the international campaign to eradicate Guinea worm. To follow along as Guinea worm becomes only the second human disease in history to be completely wiped out, check out our Guinea worm section.
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