The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Announces New Global Health Grant To Accelerate The Campaign To Eradicate Guinea Worm Disease

Media contact
Ivo Ilic Gabara
APCO Worldwide
Phone: +32.478.217.149
Email: [email protected]

GENEVA -- At the 53rd World Health Assembly, the highest governing body meeting of the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a global health grant of $28.5 million to accelerate the eradication of Guinea worm disease, a painful and debilitating disease caused by an infection from contaminated drinking water. The grant will go to several organizations that are leading the eradication effort.

"This grant will help accelerate the incredible effort of four organizations that are winning the war on Guinea worm," said Bill Foege, Senior Health Advisor to the Global Health Program at the Foundation. "Guinea worm disease can be defeated, and I look forward to the day when the last case is certified."

"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation once again has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to improving health in the developing world," said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Chairman of the nonprofit Carter Center. "This grant will go a long way toward the final assault on Guinea worm disease, which has caused immense suffering among millions of people for thousands of years. I am extremely grateful to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and look forward to working with our partner organizations and with the governments of endemic countries, who must remain committed to making this disease just a painful memory."

The campaign to eradicate dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) has been spearheaded by the Global 2000 Program of The Carter Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in close collaboration with WHO and UNICEF. This "Grand Coalition" also includes the World Bank, numerous bilateral and multilateral assistance agencies, private corporations, and foundations, all in support of village-based volunteer health workers.

The campaign has already reduced the number of reported cases of the disease by 97 percent, from an estimated 3.2 million in 1986 to less than 100,000 cases in 1999.

The number of affected countries has also been reduced from 20 to 13. Asia is now completely free of the parasite. The remaining endemic countries, all in Sub-Saharan Africa, are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Togo and Uganda.

People become infected when they drink water contaminated with tiny water fleas carrying Guinea worm larvae. Inside the body, the larvae mature and grow to as long as three feet. After about a year, the threadlike worm emerges slowly through a painful blister in the skin, most commonly on the foot. Many victims immerse the affected area in water to soothe the pain, causing the female worm to release more larvae and beginning the cycle again. Although Guinea worm disease cannot be cured, it can be prevented by teaching infected persons not to contaminate drinking water sources, by straining drinking water through a cloth filter, treating ponds with a chemical that kills the larvae, or providing water wells.

The $28.5 million grant will be channeled through the World Bank Trust Fund established to support this comprehensive eradication campaign. The designated recipients follow:
  • The Carter Center - $15 million
    The Carter Center has primary responsibility among the external partners to assist the remaining endemic countries in eradicating this disease. The Carter Center is also designated as the coordinating non-governmental organization for Guinea worm disease eradication activities in the coalition of humanitarian groups working in southern Sudan. 
  • The World Bank - $8.5 million
    The World Bank will manage this portion of the World Bank Trust Fund, by consensus agreement of the World Bank, The Carter Center, WHO, and UNICEF, to provide support for participation in this initiative by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Peace Corps, for contingencies; and for other expenditures pertaining to Guinea worm eradication. 
  • The World Health Organization - $5 million
    WHO will be responsible for eradication certification. WHO will also assume primary responsibility for assistance to countries in pre-certification stage, including still-endemic countries that report 100 cases or less during a calendar year. Pre-certification countries currently include Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Kenya, Senegal and Yemen. WHO will also facilitate convening a program managers' meeting annually in March and Program Reviews for smaller groups of countries in the latter part of each year, in close cooperation with the other major partners. 
  • UNICEF – To be determined
    UNICEF will have primary responsibility among the external partners for helping all national programs to bring the water supply sector to bear in endemic villages as quickly and effectively as possible. This includes helping programs to coordinate provision of new water supplies and rehabilitation of existing ones by all parties in endemic communities. Priority will be given to the highest endemic countries, especially Nigeria and Ghana. UNICEF will continue to support health education and social mobilization activities in all endemic countries.