Dracunculiasis eradication : beginning of the end

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the status of the Dracunculiasis Eradication Programme as of March 1993, when less than three years are left until the target date for eradication in December 1995. Dracunculiasis still occurs in more than 18 countries, where more than 100 million persons are estimated to be at risk to the infection. One or more specific interventions have been set up for preventing the disease in at least 70 per cent of the known endemic villages. Even though the full extent of the disease is not known for Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan, it is probable that less than two million people now suffer from the disease annually. The article describes the status of the disease in the four zones: 1. Asia; 2. English-speaking West Africa; 3. French-speaking West Africa; and, 4. East Africa. The most serious obstacles to the achievement of eradication by the target date include the civil war in southern Sudan, the continued apathy and lack of urgency of some national and international health officials, and the chronic underfunding of this eradication effort.