After presidency, Carter led campaign to eradicate Guinea worm
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After leaving office, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter led a decades-long effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease, and he nearly lived to see it happen.
Carter, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 and spent much his post-White House years building and advocating for affordable housing, died Sunday at the age of 100 surrounded by family at his home in Plains, Georgia, the Carter Center said.
“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights and unselfish love,” Carter’s son Chip said in a statement released by the center. “My brothers, sister and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”
A Democrat, Carter served one term as U.S. president from 1977 to 1981. In 1982, he and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University to found the Atlanta-based center that bears their name. Rosalynn Carter died in November 2023 at age 96 years.
The Carter Center was founded “on a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering,” according to its website. It has been involved in efforts to end numerous neglected tropical diseases, including river blindness, schistosomiasis and trachoma.
In 1986, when the center took over the global effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease — also called dracunculiasis — around 3.5 million cases were reported annually in 21 countries in Africa and Asia. In March, the center announced that only 14 cases of Guinea worm were reported in 2023 in just four African countries: Chad, South Sudan, Cameroon and Mali.
There are no treatments or vaccines for Guinea worm. Because people are infected when they consume stagnant water that has been contaminated with the nematode, efforts to eradicate it have focused on teaching people to filter their drinking water and to stay out of water sources when they are infected, reducing the chances that an emerging female worm will release its larvae into the water.
Recent spread among humans has come mostly from wild and domestic animals. And although Guinea worm infections in animals rose 4% in 2023, the country with the most infections, Chad, reduced canine Guinea worm infections by almost one-quarter, the Carter Center reported.
In a 2016 editorial, the staff of The Lancet Infectious Diseases said the campaign against Guinea worm might never have happened without the former president’s support.
“The Carter Center has coordinated funding, persuaded companies to donate larvicides and materials for water filters, liaised with governments, and even organized a 6 month ‘Guinea worm cease fire’ during Sudan's civil war,” they wrote.
According to the editorial, the campaign to eradicate Guinea worm had cost around $350 million by 2016 — far less than the $9.5 billion cost to eradicate polio, the authors noted.
“President Carter believed in giving every effort, as broadly as possible, to make a positive difference in the world,” staff of the Carter Center wrote in an online tribute. “His legacy will remain an ongoing inspiration to us at the Carter Center and to everyone who believes in compassion, justice and human rights. We shall miss President Carter’s strong leadership and profound humility as we carry on his work of waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope.”
If the campaign is successful, Guinea worm would become only the second human disease ever eradicated, after smallpox.
“Jimmy Carter was an exemplary model of quiet, effective humanity. Even after a stinging election defeat, he chose to remain in the public eye and to act in the public interest, not his own,” Healio | Infectious Disease News Chief Medical Editor Paul A. Volberding, MD, said.
“He was devoted to public health in the broadest of terms — helping create housing for thousands in need, and in his crusade for neglected tropical diseases, notably the disfiguring, painful and disabling infestation of guinea worm,” Volberding said. “His deep but private faith, his long marriage, and his courage in facing his own health challenges are guides for us all. He will be missed.”
References:
- The Carter Center. Health programs. https://www.cartercenter.org/health/index.html. Accessed July 10, 2024.
- The Carter Center. Redoubling efforts to reach zero. https://www.cartercenter.org/news/features/h/guinea_worm/guinea-worm-disease-campaign-led-by-carter-center.html. Published Jan. 29, 2020. Accessed Jan. 19, 2023.
- The Carter Center. Carter Center accomplishments. https://www.cartercenter.org/about/accomplishments.html. Accessed Dec. 29, 2024.
- CDC. About Guinea worm. https://www.cdc.gov/guinea-worm/about/. Last reviewed March 14, 2024. Accessed Dec. 29, 2024.
- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter passes away at 100. https://www.jimmycartertribute.org/press/pr/statement-on-president-jimmy-carter-122924.html. Published Dec. 29, 2024. Accessed Dec. 29, 2024.
- Redoubling efforts to reach zero. https://www.cartercenter.org/news/features/h/guinea_worm/guinea-worm-disease-campaign-led-by-carter-center.html. Published Jan. 29, 2020. Accessed Dec. 30, 2024.
- Update: 14 human cases of Guinea worm reported in 2023. https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2024/2023-guinea-worm-worldwide-cases-announcement.html. Published March 6, 2024. Accessed July 5, 2024.
- The Nobel Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize of 2002. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2002/summary/. Accessed Feb. 19, 2023.
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