The Carter Center is proud to announce an all-time low in the campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease.
Just 14 provisional cases of Guinea worm disease occurred in 2021, drawing nearer to the goal of global eradication. The cases occurred in four countries in Africa.
When The Carter Center assumed leadership of the global Guinea Worm Eradication Program in 1986, about 3.5 million human cases occurred annually in 21 countries in Africa and Asia.
Guinea worm disease could become the second human disease in history, after smallpox, to be eradicated. It would be the first parasitic disease to be eradicated and the first disease to be eradicated without the use of a vaccine or medicine.
