Former US
President Jimmy
Carter is receiving
hospice care at home right now
at the age of 98.
As people around the world
send him
wishes of comfort and peace,
they're also celebrating
his accomplishments.
Among the most memorable,
his fight
against a tropical disease
called Guinea Worm.
It's caused by a parasite
which infects people and animals
when they drink water
that is contaminated.
We're about to show
you disturbing pictures
of some of the complications.
Carter traveled to Nigeria
and Ghana to see firsthand.
About 3.5 million
people had the parasite in the mid 1980s
when Carter
turned his attention to the problem.
The worm comes out of a joint,
so you and your knee
swells up and destroys the tissue.
So the aftermath is very similar
to polio.
It completely debilitate suddenly
and sometimes in
the legs
is crippled for the rest of one's life.
And of course, these kids can't
go to school.
The pain is too great.
And they need medical care.
And if it's an adult,
they can't go into the field
to plant their crops.
And it's a devastating blow economically.
Obviously, the personal pain is terrible.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner
traveled to one village in Nigeria
where nearly everyone had Guinea worm
We were driving along and it seemed
elementary school children
had a big sign and says,
watch out, Guinea worm.
Here comes Jimmy Carter.
That was almost as good as a Nobel Prize.
We in 2015
when Carter announced
that cancer
had actually spread to his brain.
He immediately turned the spotlight
to Guinea worm,
saying that he wanted it
to be completely eradicated before
he dies.
The Carter Center says
case numbers were down to just 13,
just 13 from 3.5 million to 13 last year.
Time now for the exchange.
Joining me live now is Adam
Bice, the director
for the Carter Center's
Guinea Worm Eradication Program.
Adam,
thank you so much for being with us.
What a legacy.
I mean, this is incredible.
The people who don't really know
much about Guinea worm,
just explain to us
how dangerous it is
and how widespread of an issue
it was of a health concern.
It was
before Jimmy Carter
sort of turned his attention
to it back in the mid 1980s.
Well, thanks so much
for having a strong need today.
Certainly you saw in the intro footage.
Guinea worm is a terrible
nasty disease debilitates it cripples
and also leads to secondary infection.
But this three foot
long worm
that comes out of people a year
after they become initially exposed to
the disease was across 21 countries
in Africa the Middle East and Asia
mostly however in sub-Saharan Africa.
And it's just absolutely
devastating three
and a half million people
per year in 1986.
And once President Carter and others
really got involved
they were able to really
bring those cases down.
And as you said
just 13 last year
which is really an amazing feat.
I have so many questions,
but I think the first one is
why did Carter I mean this
this of all the illnesses
around the world.
Guinea worm
certainly is not the most famous,
the most funded, the most well known.
Why did President Carter
turn his attention
to this one in particular?
President
Carter turned his attention to it
for some of those very reasons.
It was neglected
before people even were talking
about neglected tropical diseases.
He was helping shine
a spotlight on people
that were disconnected
politically, socially and economically.
And really based on his own character
and his own beliefs that we're all equal
and we are a human rights
and health is a human right.
And making that connection very early on,
he really saw that this was something
that needed to be taken on.
And I think the other piece to add
is that,
you know,
this is a disease
oftentimes is of the most marginalized.
And this was a real opportunity
to show the world that that, in fact,
we were addressing those
challenges hand-in-hand.
So from
3.5 million people in 1986.
So we're talking
almost 40 years later to just 13.
I mean what is involved in that?
Just take us through the step by step
just in terms of what is involved in
virtually I would say completely
eradicating a disease.
How did you get started
So really the foundation
is working in partnership
with the National Ministries of Health.
That is the core of
how the global program has operated.
It's not a Carter Center program,
it is the national ministries
that lead the charge.
So setting up community
based surveillance systems,
just like in COVID 19 pandemic,
you have to know where the diseases
in order to implement interventions.
Of course,
knowing that we do have one or two hands
tied behind our back in
that we do not have a vaccine or a cure
or a therapy to treat it,
but really
making sure we know where it is.
And then through peer
to peer health education,
through very simple pipe
straw filters
donated by Vestergaard friends and
making sure that
people really understand
how the disease works
That is,
if you have it or an animal has it
and they enter water,
they infect that water source,
and anybody who might use that
water source
can become infected
about one year later,
which makes the behavior change component
very complicated and difficult.
President Carter is in hospice
You know, he is almost 100 years old.
I mean,
this is a huge part of his legacy.
I mean, you think about
what he's achieved
and everybody talks about, you know,
going from a peanut farmer in Georgia
to becoming president.
And that is amazing.
That is quite a feat.
However, it's things like this,
you know,
that he will really be remembered
for the lives that he touched especially.
I mean, also covers Africa quite a bit.
So especially for me
as someone who is from West Africa,
this means so much.
And you travel to a village in my country
how much comfort
does this give President Carter that he
I mean, not many of my buddies
was actually saying in my ear
before we went to you
there aren't that many people
in the world who can say
they are behind the near
the ratification
eradication, rather, of a disease.
I mean,
that is an incredible achievement.
How much comfort does that give
President Carter in his final days?
Well, right now, he's he's
very much at peace
with his wife and family at home.
He also smiled the other day
when he received a report
that as of right now,
we have zero human infections
in the world.
So, again, we we do expect
some cases this year
that's not going to surprise us.
But he is very much humbled
by the strong leadership
of the national ministries of Health.
We are actually just in meetings
with several ministers of health.
They're leading the charge.
And they know that while his days
might well be numbered,
that they're going to carry on the legacy
to see Guinea worm gone from this planet.
Incredible advice.
Live for us,
director of the Carter Center's
Guinea Worm Eradication Program.
Thank you so much for being on the show.