Last June in Suai, a small town in Timor-Leste, I held an open day with local women and men to mark the tenth anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security. This resolution recognizes the unique impact of conflict on women’s lives and highlights their often overlooked contributions to resolving and preventing conflict. It also calls on the international community to involve women fully in every aspect of our work for peace and security.
The discussion at the meeting was lively. Women presented their achievements and shared their ideas on how the international community could better help them reach their goals. Topics ranged from community policing to cross-border reconciliation with communities in Indonesia to domestic violence. I was struck by the energy and diversity of the more than one hundred people who came to voice their concerns. Police officers, local government officials, and community leaders joined scores of ordinary women—mothers, wives, breadwinners, and heads of household.
My lasting impression of the women of Suai was that they were not demoralized by their past. On the contrary, they radiated energy and resourcefulness. Their stories and work helped me understand that if the United Nations were to make a lasting contribution to peace and stability in Timor-Leste on my watch, it would be by building on the initiative and resilience of these women and helping them become fully involved in determining the country’s future.
Women’s involvement in decision making is particularly important in Timor-Leste, where men and women are building the economic and social foundations of a stable society and resilient institutions, following a twenty-four-year struggle for independence which claimed the lives of 183,000 Timorese.
One of the women taking on this challenge is Madalena Bi Dau Soares, a former, long-serving fighter in the Timorese guerilla army. I met Madalena in her home in the Liquiça district to which she had returned in 1999 to set up and run two kindergartens that she financed with her small veteran’s pension. When asked why she did it, she gave a simple answer: “I wanted to achieve something good, leave a mark in the community. After fighting for independence, men found other things to do. I wanted the same for me.”
Filomena dos Reis is another independence fighter turned grassroots peace activist. She trains Timorese women in mediation, negotiation, and conflict-resolution. In 2005, Filomena and her colleagues organized a cross-border dialogue between Timorese and Indonesians. The initiative was in response to conflicts between communities, due to cattle straying across parts of the border that were not clearly demarcated. To resolve these disputes, the two sides selected sixty people to participate in the dialogue, which was watched by five hundred observers. The talks, which took place over three days in September 2005, resulted in a set of recommendations that were submitted to the Timorese and Indonesian Governments. One of the recommendations was to conclude ongoing negotiations about passes allowing women to move freely between markets on either side of the border. This became a reality in 2010, when the two Governments issued the border passes.
Madalena’s and Filomena’s achievements are even more impressive in light of the Timorese women’s history over the past decades. In fact, women played a significant role in Timor-Leste’s struggle for independence. During the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste from 1975 to 1999, women were guerilla fighters and members of the clandestine front. In Timor-Leste and abroad, they advocated against the Indonesian occupation. They brought resistance fighters food, ammunition, and messages, and gave them shelter. Women’s organizations also contributed by training ¬women in survival and teaching vocational skills.
The women of Timor-Leste now have a huge stake in reconciliation and peacebuilding initiatives. They want their country to learn from its history in order to have a peaceful and stable future. Nevertheless, women were largely absent from high-level dialogue initiatives to end outbreaks of violence in 1999 and 2006. The situation may, however, be changing. Throughout Timor-Leste, women are leading grassroots reconciliation initiatives, and they are moving into the corridors of power. Indeed, female political participation in Timor-Leste, now comprising 30 per cent of parliament members, is the highest in Southeast Asia. Women also lead the ministries of finance, justice, and social solidarity. Across the country, women are carving out a space for themselves at the national, district, and village levels to address domestic violence, economic hardship, and other issues that affect women and the population at large.
Bearing in mind this history of strength, suffering, and survival, what can the United Nations do to help those women in Timor-Leste and other countries who fight for peace and security for themselves and their families? I think one of our most important roles is to provide positive role models for women’s involvement at all levels of decision making. My experience as one of three female Special Representatives of the Secretary-General leading peacekeeping missions is that the presence of a woman in high-level discussions can make a difference. The presence of a female leader can inspire other women in international, national, and local institutions to seek high offices. This was an important motivator for me when I worked in Afghanistan and Sudan, where cultural norms often kept women from holding decision-making positions.
We need female role models at every level of the institutions we support. That is why I encourage police-contributing countries to send a higher proportion of female police officers to Timor-Leste and other countries. The presence of women in uniform sends a clear signal to the population that women have a central role to play in maintaining public safety and security. Timor-Leste is leading the way for the United Nations in this regard—today, women make up almost 20 per cent of the country’s police service, while women represent only 6 per cent of the UN police in the country.
In other areas, however, Timor-Leste can make further strides. For example, only ten of the country’s 442 village chiefs are women. The United Nations should do all it can to help women reach such positions of responsibility traditionally reserved for men.
Women in decision-making positions can also ensure that women’s concerns and interests are taken into account when choices influencing peace and security are made. From my work in different conflict areas, I know that decision makers often fail to include women’s knowledge and interests when making policy. In Afghanistan, for example, the international community did not act as agriculture moved from traditional crops to narcotics. Women were not part of that decision-making process. Another example pertains to the methods used by disarmament programmes to identify combatants, which exclude women associated with or providing support to the armed forces. At the same time, reintegration programmes fail to take into account women’s specific needs for livelihoods. This happens even though we know that women’s abilities to make a living and provide for their families is a crucial factor in bringing a society back from conflict.
By failing to take advantage of women’s thinking and contributions in rural economies, and by underestimating the role women can play in averting the economic collapses that are often at the root of cycles of conflict, we miss important parts of the peace puzzle and risk investing in peace and security solutions that are likely to fail.
The international community has much to learn from Madalena Bi Dau Soares and Filomena dos Reis and their readiness to seek new ways to contribute to the security and well-being of their communities. If peace and stability are to be sustainable, women like them must be involved at every stage, from setting government strategy to carrying out projects, and from voting on laws to implementing them in the communities. As members of the United Nations, we must listen to women, recognize their transformative powers, and defend and promote their inclusion in every way that we can. If we are serious about peace—and we are—it is the only way forward.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
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| MalariaWorld Newsletter - publishing date: 06/24/2011 Latest scientific publications: Jun 23, 2011 05:05 pm | Bart Knols Jun 23, 2011 10:53 am | patrick sampao Jun 23, 2011 10:14 am | Kabogo Jun 23, 2011 10:08 am | Kabogo Jun 23, 2011 03:25 am | Kabogo Jun 23, 2011 03:02 am | Kabogo Jun 23, 2011 02:59 am | Kabogo Jun 23, 2011 02:51 am | Kabogo Jun 23, 2011 02:43 am | Kabogo Jun 22, 2011 10:53 am | patrick sampao Jun 22, 2011 10:30 am | patrick sampao Jun 22, 2011 10:17 am | patrick sampao Jun 22, 2011 03:06 am | Kabogo Jun 22, 2011 03:00 am | Kabogo Jun 22, 2011 02:50 am | Kabogo Jun 21, 2011 10:23 am | patrick sampao Jun 21, 2011 10:05 am | patrick sampao Jun 21, 2011 09:55 am | Kabogo Jun 21, 2011 09:49 am | Kabogo Jun 21, 2011 09:48 am | patrick sampao Jun 21, 2011 09:01 am | Kabogo Jun 21, 2011 03:27 am | Kabogo Jun 21, 2011 03:15 am | Kabogo Jun 21, 2011 03:08 am | Kabogo Jun 21, 2011 02:55 am | Kabogo Jun 21, 2011 02:51 am | Kabogo Jun 21, 2011 02:47 am | Kabogo Jun 20, 2011 10:21 am | patrick sampao Jun 20, 2011 10:16 am | patrick sampao Jun 18, 2011 11:09 am | Kabogo Jun 18, 2011 11:05 am | Kabogo Jun 18, 2011 10:09 am | patrick sampao Jun 18, 2011 09:54 am | patrick sampao Jun 18, 2011 09:32 am | patrick sampao |
Monday, July 18, 2011
George Clooney Contracted Malaria in the Sudan... Again
latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-george-clooney-201101,0,4348566.story
Source: latimes.com
George Clooney contracted malaria on Sudan visit -- and recovered, media reports say
By Mary Forgione, Tribune Health - January 20, 2011
George Clooney has perhaps learned an important lesson -- malaria makes traveling the globe a lot less fun than it should be.
Sure, it’s noble to go on philanthropic missions around the world, helping those who can’t help themselves, but it’s probably hard to feel noble when shaking from the chills. And Clooney should know. The actor apparently has just recovered from malaria, which he contracted in Africa earlier this month, media reports said Thursday.
CNN’s Piers Morgan on Wednesday night tweeted that Clooney was fighting the illness and posts this clip of the actor talking about his condition. Clooney apparently got the disease for a second time while in southern Sudan during the pivotal election for independence. People magazine ran a statement from a spokesman Thursday saying the actor is completely over the illness.
Malaria is a serious, sometimes fatal disease contracted by a mosquito bite, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. And Clooney's illness highlights the risk that travelers face. Symptoms include high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like illness. So take care -- take preventive drugs such as chloroquine phosphate and mefloquine before you go. Here's more information from the CDC.
The World Health Organization reports a risk of malaria in more than 100 countries and says about 30,000 international travelers get the disease each year. It also offers these tips:
"A. Be Aware of the risk, the incubation period and the main symptoms.
B. Avoid being Bitten by mosquitoes, especially between dusk and dawn.
C. Take antimalarial drugs ... to suppress infection where appropriate. D. Immediately seek diagnosis and treatment if a fever develops one week or more after entering an area where there is a malaria risk, and up to 3 months after departure."
So back to Clooney. He is scheduled to appear on Morgan’s show Friday night -- and talk about this recent bout with malaria.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
Source: latimes.com
George Clooney contracted malaria on Sudan visit -- and recovered, media reports say
By Mary Forgione, Tribune Health - January 20, 2011
George Clooney has perhaps learned an important lesson -- malaria makes traveling the globe a lot less fun than it should be.
Sure, it’s noble to go on philanthropic missions around the world, helping those who can’t help themselves, but it’s probably hard to feel noble when shaking from the chills. And Clooney should know. The actor apparently has just recovered from malaria, which he contracted in Africa earlier this month, media reports said Thursday.
CNN’s Piers Morgan on Wednesday night tweeted that Clooney was fighting the illness and posts this clip of the actor talking about his condition. Clooney apparently got the disease for a second time while in southern Sudan during the pivotal election for independence. People magazine ran a statement from a spokesman Thursday saying the actor is completely over the illness.
Malaria is a serious, sometimes fatal disease contracted by a mosquito bite, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. And Clooney's illness highlights the risk that travelers face. Symptoms include high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like illness. So take care -- take preventive drugs such as chloroquine phosphate and mefloquine before you go. Here's more information from the CDC.
The World Health Organization reports a risk of malaria in more than 100 countries and says about 30,000 international travelers get the disease each year. It also offers these tips:
"A. Be Aware of the risk, the incubation period and the main symptoms.
B. Avoid being Bitten by mosquitoes, especially between dusk and dawn.
C. Take antimalarial drugs ... to suppress infection where appropriate. D. Immediately seek diagnosis and treatment if a fever develops one week or more after entering an area where there is a malaria risk, and up to 3 months after departure."
So back to Clooney. He is scheduled to appear on Morgan’s show Friday night -- and talk about this recent bout with malaria.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
Mosquito Subspecies Presents Challenge in Fighting Malaria
latimes.com/news/science/la-he-malaria-mosquito-20110204,0,3125160.story
Source: latimes.com
Mosquito subspecies presents challenge in fighting malaria
Efforts to wipe out the disease have focused on indoor mosquitoes, but a newly discovered type that's more susceptible to the parasite lives outdoors, where it's harder to battle.
By Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times
February 4, 2011
Researchers have discovered a previously unknown subspecies of mosquito in West Africa that is highly susceptible to the malaria parasite and whose existence may stymie efforts to eradicate the deadly disease.
Unlike the indoor-dwelling mosquitoes that are the usual targets of malaria eradication efforts, members of the newly described subgroup of the species Anopheles gambiae live outdoors, which means they're more difficult to kill, according to the study published online Thursday in the journal Science.
"We've got egg on our face," said William Black, a medical entomologist at Colorado State University who was not involved in the study. "We've been working with this mosquito for so long … and right under our noses, here's this other form of mosquito," he said — one that could force researchers "to start thinking about what's going on outside of those huts."
Malaria is an incurable blood disease caused by parasites in the genus Plasmodium. Mosquitoes spread the parasite by drawing blood from infected humans, becoming carriers themselves and then transmitting the parasite to other humans they bite.
Malaria victims suffer headaches, high fever, chills, vomiting, anemia and sometimes death. There are about 250 million cases and nearly 1 million deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization.
Anopheles gambiae is thought to be the most significant malaria transmitter in Africa, and it has resisted repeated efforts to wipe it out, said Kenneth Vernick, a vector geneticist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris who co-wrote the study. Malaria control projects going back to the 1970s have apparently failed because they used tactics such as indoor sprays and chemically treated bed netting that only targeted mosquitoes inside human homes.
One of the reasons for focusing on indoor insects "is that people imagine that mosquitoes that are in proximity to people might be the most epidemiologically important to transmit malaria," Vernick said. But there's another, less scientific reason as well, he added: "Because it's easy."
Outdoor mosquitoes, on the other hand, are notoriously difficult to kill, let alone capture to study in experiments. Without the benefit of walls and a roof, Vernick said, "you don't have a defined space to spray-bomb and catch them and have them fall on a sheet."
Instead of chasing after the adult insects, the researchers decided to search for them in the larval stage, when they're easier to capture. Mosquitoes breed close to human habitations in puddles of standing water that collects in tire-tracks or hoof prints, for example. In West Africa, standing bodies of water are hard to come by, so all types of mosquitoes would likely be forced to use common puddles to hatch their young.
The researchers traveled across Burkina Faso, collecting larvae from puddles around villages and growing thousands of mosquitoes over a four-year period. They genetically analyzed the young and found that only 43% of the larvae in the puddles were the indoor variety — meaning that 57% were not.
When the researchers fed the mosquitoes blood from humans who had malaria, 58% of the outdoor mosquitoes became infected with the parasite, compared with 35% of the indoor-resting ones.
Now scientists need to capture adult outdoor mosquitoes and study their feeding habits so they can determine whether the insects are a significant malaria threat, Black said. If so, he concluded, "it means we're going to have to change a lot of our control tactics."
amina.khan@latimes.com
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
Source: latimes.com
Mosquito subspecies presents challenge in fighting malaria
Efforts to wipe out the disease have focused on indoor mosquitoes, but a newly discovered type that's more susceptible to the parasite lives outdoors, where it's harder to battle.
By Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times
February 4, 2011
Researchers have discovered a previously unknown subspecies of mosquito in West Africa that is highly susceptible to the malaria parasite and whose existence may stymie efforts to eradicate the deadly disease.
Unlike the indoor-dwelling mosquitoes that are the usual targets of malaria eradication efforts, members of the newly described subgroup of the species Anopheles gambiae live outdoors, which means they're more difficult to kill, according to the study published online Thursday in the journal Science.
"We've got egg on our face," said William Black, a medical entomologist at Colorado State University who was not involved in the study. "We've been working with this mosquito for so long … and right under our noses, here's this other form of mosquito," he said — one that could force researchers "to start thinking about what's going on outside of those huts."
Malaria is an incurable blood disease caused by parasites in the genus Plasmodium. Mosquitoes spread the parasite by drawing blood from infected humans, becoming carriers themselves and then transmitting the parasite to other humans they bite.
Malaria victims suffer headaches, high fever, chills, vomiting, anemia and sometimes death. There are about 250 million cases and nearly 1 million deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization.
Anopheles gambiae is thought to be the most significant malaria transmitter in Africa, and it has resisted repeated efforts to wipe it out, said Kenneth Vernick, a vector geneticist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris who co-wrote the study. Malaria control projects going back to the 1970s have apparently failed because they used tactics such as indoor sprays and chemically treated bed netting that only targeted mosquitoes inside human homes.
One of the reasons for focusing on indoor insects "is that people imagine that mosquitoes that are in proximity to people might be the most epidemiologically important to transmit malaria," Vernick said. But there's another, less scientific reason as well, he added: "Because it's easy."
Outdoor mosquitoes, on the other hand, are notoriously difficult to kill, let alone capture to study in experiments. Without the benefit of walls and a roof, Vernick said, "you don't have a defined space to spray-bomb and catch them and have them fall on a sheet."
Instead of chasing after the adult insects, the researchers decided to search for them in the larval stage, when they're easier to capture. Mosquitoes breed close to human habitations in puddles of standing water that collects in tire-tracks or hoof prints, for example. In West Africa, standing bodies of water are hard to come by, so all types of mosquitoes would likely be forced to use common puddles to hatch their young.
The researchers traveled across Burkina Faso, collecting larvae from puddles around villages and growing thousands of mosquitoes over a four-year period. They genetically analyzed the young and found that only 43% of the larvae in the puddles were the indoor variety — meaning that 57% were not.
When the researchers fed the mosquitoes blood from humans who had malaria, 58% of the outdoor mosquitoes became infected with the parasite, compared with 35% of the indoor-resting ones.
Now scientists need to capture adult outdoor mosquitoes and study their feeding habits so they can determine whether the insects are a significant malaria threat, Black said. If so, he concluded, "it means we're going to have to change a lot of our control tactics."
amina.khan@latimes.com
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
Unique Anti-malarial Gets a Foothold
Smell of stinky feet just what malaria doctor ordered
By Marni Jameson, Orlando Sentinel
July 14, 2011.
Want to fend off mosquitoes and ultimately malaria? Wash your feet, or set out stinky sock traps.
Turns out, the smellier your feet, the more mosquitoes — which spread malaria — like them and you. Such was the discovery made by brave Dutch scientist Bart Knols, who, in the interest of us all, stood naked in a dark, mosquito-filled room to find out which parts of him mosquitoes found most edible.
Hands down it was his feet. And the more odorous they were, the more mosquitoes liked them.
Fast forward 15 years, and a new swarm of scientists have taken the funky-foot finding a step further. They are using foot odor to help control malaria.
Dr. Fredros Okuma, a researcher for Tanzania's Ifakara Health Institute, has replicated the odor — a fragrant blend of eight chemicals — and has put it in traps that lure mosquitoes and poison them. The traps were four times more attractive to mosquitoes than a human volunteer.
The simple solution appears so promising that The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded two grants totaling $865,000 to Okuma for research on how the traps can be made affordable and used to help prevent the spread of disease in Africa.
By Marni Jameson, Orlando Sentinel
July 14, 2011.
Want to fend off mosquitoes and ultimately malaria? Wash your feet, or set out stinky sock traps.
Turns out, the smellier your feet, the more mosquitoes — which spread malaria — like them and you. Such was the discovery made by brave Dutch scientist Bart Knols, who, in the interest of us all, stood naked in a dark, mosquito-filled room to find out which parts of him mosquitoes found most edible.
Hands down it was his feet. And the more odorous they were, the more mosquitoes liked them.
Fast forward 15 years, and a new swarm of scientists have taken the funky-foot finding a step further. They are using foot odor to help control malaria.
Dr. Fredros Okuma, a researcher for Tanzania's Ifakara Health Institute, has replicated the odor — a fragrant blend of eight chemicals — and has put it in traps that lure mosquitoes and poison them. The traps were four times more attractive to mosquitoes than a human volunteer.
The simple solution appears so promising that The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded two grants totaling $865,000 to Okuma for research on how the traps can be made affordable and used to help prevent the spread of disease in Africa.
Headlice Treatment Answer to Malaria?
Head lice drug may stem spread of malaria
By Daniela Hernandez, Los Angeles Times
July 16, 2011
U.S. researchers in Senegal have found that ivermectin helps kill off disease-carrying mosquitoes that feed from people with the drug in their system.
The drug, ivermectin, has been used in Africa for more than 15 years to treat river blindness, a parasitic disease that often leaves its victims blind and is common in the same regions where malaria is contracted.
Researchers have hit upon a potential new tool to fight the spread of malaria — a drug commonly used to treat head lice and heartworm.
The Colorado State University scientists made the discovery while in Senegal during malaria season in August 2008 and August 2009.
The drug, ivermectin, has been used in Africa for more than 15 years to treat river blindness, a parasitic disease that often leaves its victims blind and is common in the same regions where malaria is contracted. With the assistance of the Senegalese Ministry of Health, the team traveled to three villages where people were receiving ivermectin and collected mosquitoes from inside huts before and two weeks after they had been treated with a single dose of the drug.
The scientists reported in the July issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene that the number of malaria-carrying mosquitoes fell by 80% two weeks after the residents had received ivermectin. In untreated villages, the percentage of malaria-laden mosquitoes jumped more than twofold during that same period.
Ivermectin paralyzes mosquitoes if they feed from a person who has been treated with the medication, killing the bloodsuckers before they can infect their next victim. As long as it's in the bloodstream, the drug acts as a 24/7 insecticide that targets mosquitoes that manage to bite.
"There is reason for cautious optimism," commented David Sullivan, a microbiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who was not involved in the study. However, he added that the results will need to be repeated to confirm that the drug is an effective tool to control malaria, which kills approximately 1 million people each year, many of them children.
Ivermectin is a particularly attractive anti-malaria strategy because much of the infrastructure to get the drug to affected areas is already in place, experts said.
One complication is that it is typically not given to children younger than 5, which might give mosquitoes "a refugee population in which to hide," said Tom Unnasch, a microbiologist at the University of South Florida who also was not involved in the study.
The study's lead author, Brian Foy, a microbiologist at Colorado State University, said he and his team are seeking funding to study whether monthly administration of the drug could have longer-term effects and to show that cases of malaria — not just numbers of disease-carrying mosquitoes — decline with the treatment.
"We need bigger and better studies," he said.
daniela.hernandez@latimes.com
Source and Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
By Daniela Hernandez, Los Angeles Times
July 16, 2011
U.S. researchers in Senegal have found that ivermectin helps kill off disease-carrying mosquitoes that feed from people with the drug in their system.
The drug, ivermectin, has been used in Africa for more than 15 years to treat river blindness, a parasitic disease that often leaves its victims blind and is common in the same regions where malaria is contracted.
Researchers have hit upon a potential new tool to fight the spread of malaria — a drug commonly used to treat head lice and heartworm.
The Colorado State University scientists made the discovery while in Senegal during malaria season in August 2008 and August 2009.
The drug, ivermectin, has been used in Africa for more than 15 years to treat river blindness, a parasitic disease that often leaves its victims blind and is common in the same regions where malaria is contracted. With the assistance of the Senegalese Ministry of Health, the team traveled to three villages where people were receiving ivermectin and collected mosquitoes from inside huts before and two weeks after they had been treated with a single dose of the drug.
The scientists reported in the July issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene that the number of malaria-carrying mosquitoes fell by 80% two weeks after the residents had received ivermectin. In untreated villages, the percentage of malaria-laden mosquitoes jumped more than twofold during that same period.
Ivermectin paralyzes mosquitoes if they feed from a person who has been treated with the medication, killing the bloodsuckers before they can infect their next victim. As long as it's in the bloodstream, the drug acts as a 24/7 insecticide that targets mosquitoes that manage to bite.
"There is reason for cautious optimism," commented David Sullivan, a microbiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who was not involved in the study. However, he added that the results will need to be repeated to confirm that the drug is an effective tool to control malaria, which kills approximately 1 million people each year, many of them children.
Ivermectin is a particularly attractive anti-malaria strategy because much of the infrastructure to get the drug to affected areas is already in place, experts said.
One complication is that it is typically not given to children younger than 5, which might give mosquitoes "a refugee population in which to hide," said Tom Unnasch, a microbiologist at the University of South Florida who also was not involved in the study.
The study's lead author, Brian Foy, a microbiologist at Colorado State University, said he and his team are seeking funding to study whether monthly administration of the drug could have longer-term effects and to show that cases of malaria — not just numbers of disease-carrying mosquitoes — decline with the treatment.
"We need bigger and better studies," he said.
daniela.hernandez@latimes.com
Source and Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
The Race is On: Polio and Guinea Worm Disease Targeted for Eradication
Water-related Diseases
Guinea-Worm Disease (Dracunculiasis)
The disease and how it affects people
Guinea worm disease is a debilitating and painful infection caused by a large nematode (roundworm), Dracunculus medinensis. It begins with a blister, usually on the leg. Around the time of its eruption, the person may experience itching, fever, swelling and burning sensations. Infected persons try to relieve the pain by immersing the infected part in water, usually open water sources such as ponds and shallow wells. This stimulates the worm to emerge and release thousands of larvae into the water. The larva is ingested by a water flea (cyclops), where it develops and becomes infective in two weeks. When a person drinks the water, the cyclops is dissolved by the acidity of the stomach, and the larva is activated and penetrates the gut wall. It develops and migrates through the subcutaneous tissue. After about one year, a blister forms and the mature worm, 1m long, tries to emerge, thus repeating the life cycle.
For persons living in remote areas with no access to medical care, healing of the ulcers can take several weeks. This can be further complicated by bacterial infection, stiff joints, arthritis and even permanent debilitating contractures of the limbs. People in endemic villages are incapacitated during peak agricultural activities. This can seriously affect their agricultural production and the availability of food in the household, and consequently the nutritional status of their family members, particularly young children.
Distribution
At the beginning of the 20th century, guinea-worm disease, was widespread in many countries in Africa and Asia. It is estimated that there were about 50 million cases in the 1950s. Due to concentrated efforts by the international community and the endemic countries, the number of cases of guinea-worm disease was reduced to about 96 000 by 1999. Guinea-worm disease is prevalent in only 13 countries in Africa including Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo and Côte d'Ivoire. A small number of cases have also been reported in Uganda, Benin, Mali, Mauritania, Ethiopia and Chad.
Scope of the Problem
Humans are the only known reservoirs for guinea-worm disease, and infection is through the use of contaminated water in remote rural areas of African countries. About two-thirds of the cases (66 000) reported in 1999 were from Sudan, where the continuing civil war is hampering efforts to eradicate the disease.
Interventions
Provision of safe drinking-water in rural and isolated areas is the pillar intervention to eliminate the disease. The disease disappeared from many countries such as from the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia due to improvement in water supply. In 1991, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution to eradicate the disease.
Dracunculiasis Eradication Programme
WHO has promoted the eradication campaign, which focuses on: interruption of transmission of the disease; surveillance of new cases; and certification of eradication. Specific interventions include: health education, case containment, community-based surveillance systems, provision of safe water, including use of filtering devices and chemical treatment of water sources.
Prepared for World Water Day 2001. Reviewed by staff and experts from the cluster on Communicable Diseases (CDS), and Water, Sanitation and Health unit (WSH), World Health Organization (WHO).
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Guinea Worm Disease
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