subject: WHO Outlines Strategy to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases [print this page] The WHO reports that the global effort against Guinea worm has yielded remarkable results - a 99 percent decline in the disease. People in affected villages use screens to keep Guinea worm eggs out of their drinking water and out of their bodies.
Through the Carter Center, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has led the battle against Guinea worm and river blindness, in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization.
President Carter told VOA he is confident Guinea worm will be eradicated in his lifetime.
"There's only been one disease in the history of humankind ever eradicated, and that was smallpox more than 30 years ago," said Jimmy Carter. "Guinea worm is soon going to be only the second disease in history to be wiped off the face of the Earth."
In Africa and Asia, the WHO says rabies vaccines prevent approximately 272,000 deaths each year.
The WHO report says one of the most effective strategies in controlling the neglected tropical diseases is mass scale preventative chemotherapy.
Under this therapy an entire population identified as susceptible to parasitic diseases is given tablets that can guard against several diseases at once.
Disease-free, the WHO says these people can care for their children, tend their farms and hope for a better life.
WHO Outlines Strategy to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases
