SUDAN: Aggressive attack on Guinea worm disease

NAIROBI, 23 May (IRIN) - The Sudan Guinea Worm Pipe Filter Project has
begun to distribute nine million filters, one for every man, women and
child at risk of Guinea worm disease in a country that poses "the final
great challenge to Guinea worm eradication", according to a press release
from the US-based Carter Centre on Tuesday.

"We are grateful for this opportunity to aggressively attack Guinea worm
in Sudan, but also encouraged by the eagerness of all interested parties
in the fight to eradicate this debilitating disease," said former US
President Jimmy Carter of the Carter Centre, one of the leading agencies
involved in Guinea worm eradication worldwide. In Sudan, it has Health
Development International (HDI), Hydro Polymers of Norsk Hydro and
Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) as its key partners in tackling the disease.

The Guinea worm is a 3,000 year-old parasite that gives rise, through
contaminated water, to a disease which cripples victims, leaving them
unable to work, attend school, care for children or harvest crops. Use of
the pipe filter, adapted from nomads' traditional practice of filtering
water with a nylon cloth, prevents individuals from drinking contaminated
water and interrupts disease transmission, according to the Carter Centre.

The nature and incidence of the disease, coupled with the number of nomads
and conflict-displaced people and the difficulty of accessing safe
drinking water, gave rise to the idea of producing and distributing pipe
filters in Sudan.

The country's Guinea Worm Eradication Programme reported more than 54,000
cases last year, from 3,386 villages, the Carter Centre stated on Tuesday.
That represented almost three-quarters of all reported cases, after the
worldwide incidence had been reduced from 3.2 million cases in 1986 to
fewer than 75,000 in 2000.

The regions with the highest recorded incidences were West and South
Kordofan in the midwest and southern Blue Nile, White Nile and Sinnar in
east-central Sudan, the Centre added.

"We feel the pipe filter project is the quickest and most effective
solution at this time to eradicate Guinea worm disease in Sudan, given the
constraints of the environment and the costs associated with providing
clean water," said Mikkel Storm, Public Affairs Manager of Hydro Polymers,
after a visit to Sudan.

The core project partners have been joined by over 39 implementing
agencies, 16 working groups and many supporting industries in the effort
to produce, assemble and distribute the nine million pipe filters before
the July rains, when the high disease transmission season begins,
according to the Carter Centre. Some 5.5 million pipe filters have already
been produced and distributed in the most endemic areas, and another
million currently await distribution.

Dr Rumishael Shoo, the WHO's South Sudan Coordinator, told IRIN on
Wednesday that Guinea worm was "a very big problem" in the country,
especially in the south, which was by far the largest reservoir in the
world, and that tackling it was a real priority.

He welcomed the material and resource inputs involved in the Sudan Guinea
Worm Pipe Filter Project, while stressing that it was also vital to get
all the stakeholders, including local communities, involved in order to
ensure that the correct strategies were put in place to eradicate the
scourge of the disease.

"The massive Pipe Filter Project has the potential to greatly influence
the number of new cases in 2002," said Mikkel Storm. "However, we must
remain aware that it is the continued conflict that leaves many parts of
the country inaccessible or difficult to reach, making the prevalence of
disease and the actual number of cases unknown."

[IRIN-CEA: Tel: +254 2 622147 Fax: +254 2 622129 e-mail:
irin-cea@ocha.unon.org ]

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