International cross-border coordination meeting to strengthen Guinea worm surveillance and response in areas bordering Chad, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan, 13-14 November 2022, Khartoum, Sudan
WHO prepares for major cross-border meetings in Sudan as eradication of dracunculiasis (Guinea-worm disease) draws closer in one of the disease's remaining hotspots.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is preparing to hold two days of high-level meetings with representatives of Sudan and other dracunculiasis-affected neighbouring countries in order to accelerate progress towards global eradication of this debilitating disease.
Representatives from Chad, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan will come together in Khartoum, Sudan, on 13 and 14 November 2022 to discuss progress towards eradication. This will be followed by a meeting on 15 November to concentrate on Sudan's impending certification by WHO as having eliminated transmission of the Guinea worm.
The last 20 years have seen endemicity plummet. Preventing the spread of the disease from the few remaining endemic foci will help accelerate the eradication process to reach the NTD road map goal.
Turning the tide
The disruption caused by conflict and the massive displacement of refugees in recent years has increased the risk of spread of the disease.
The tide is turning, however.
For Sudan, the Khartoum meetings will give particular attention to ongoing efforts to combat Guinea worm in challenging circumstances in border regions and in areas where large gatherings of displaced peoples make it difficult to provide the clean water and sanitary conditions that are key to preventing the reintroduction of the disease.
For Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan, the meeting will offer opportunities for collaboration and streamlining information-sharing to strengthen cross-border surveillance and response in view of stopping transmission of the infection at the earliest.
Guinea-worm disease results from infection with Dracunculus medinensis (the Guinea worm) after drinking water contaminated with the larval stages of the parasite. After a year or so, painful blisters emerge on the skin as the worms seek to leave the body. This exposes the person to secondary infections and even permanent disability.
Recent successes in driving down cases are due to targeted health information messages about the disease and the cash rewards for voluntarily reporting of human cases and animal infections, prompt detection and infection containment measures, proactive tethering of dogs in endemic communities, better vector control interventions and improved water filtration, and by making sure that populations have access to safe sources of drinking-water.
At the turn of the last century (1999), most African countries in the belt between Mauritania in the west and Ethiopia to the east were endemic for Guinea-worm disease.
In the two decades since then, remarkable progress has been made, to the point where, in 2022, only five countries remained endemic: Angola, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan.
Towards eradication
WHO's major regional meetings in Khartoum will be addressed by the Sudanese Federal Minister of Health Dr Haitham Mohammed Ibrahim, the WHO Representative Dr Ni'ma Saeed Abid, the Director-General of Primary Health Care of the Federal Ministry of Health of Sudan Dr Dalya Idreis Hassan Eltayeeb, and by The Carter Center Country Representative Dr Sara Lavinia.
Representatives from the four neighbouring countries, as well as other key stakeholders, will share detailed reports on progress in their respective countries, as the two affected WHO regions - the African Region and the Eastern Mediterranean Region - and the world, look to what is currently one of the few remaining hotspots for Guinea-worm disease.
The following day, after the cross-border meeting, attention will shift to the hopefully imminent acknowledgement of Sudan's transmission-free status.
The meeting will hear from representatives of each State of Sudan and from the Federal Ministry of Health. Discussion will focus on the national plan for activities towards certification by WHO in 2023.
