Progress toward global eradication of dracunculiasis, January-June 2003

In 1986, when the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the eradication of dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease), an estimated 3.5 million persons in 20 countries had the disease, and approximately 120 million persons were at risk for infection. By the end of 2002, annual incidence of the disease had been reduced >98%; seven countries in which dracunculiasis formerly was endemic (Cameroon, Chad, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Senegal, and Yemen) were free of the disease, and four countries (Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Mauritania, and Uganda) reported <100 cases each. During 1993-2002, the number of villages outside Sudan that reported cases decreased from approximately 23,000 to 2,022. This report describes the status of the global Dracunculiasis Eradication Program (DEP)* as of June 2003. The data indicate that incidence of the disease outside Ghana and Sudan has declined substantially since June 2002. Continuing efforts in all countries in which the disease is endemic, intensified efforts in Ghana, and an end to the ongoing war in Sudan are required for the eradication of dracunculiasis.