The World Health Organisation has certified the Democratic Republic of the Congo free of transmission of Dracunculus medinensis, the parasite that causes dracunculiasis -Guinea-worm disease.
The announcement was made by the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, following a recommendation of the International Commission for the Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication.
Dr Tedros congratulated the DRC’s Health Minister, Dr Jean-Jacques Mbanda, as well as all the field teams who had worked tirelessly to achieve the significant milestone.
Dracunculiasis is a crippling parasitic disease, transmitted mainly when people drink stagnant water contaminated with parasite-infected water fleas. The transmission cycle takes 10–14 months, after which time a mature female worm emerges from the body.
While rarely fatal, the disease is debilitating and can leave sufferers unable to function normally for months. It primarily affects people in rural, isolated and deprived communities.
Dracunculiasis is one of the three diseases targeted by the WHO for global eradication, together with yaws (another neglected tropical disease) and poliomyelitis.
In a report posted on its website, the WHO said the certification followed an extensive and thorough evaluation of the country dossier presented by the DRC officials to the WHO.
The evaluation was conducted by the ICCDE and was complemented by a country visit of an international certification team led by Professor Robert Guiguemdé between July 19 and August 6, 2022.
It said, “Evaluation for certification involves assessing several factors, including epidemiological surveillance data and official records, as well as surveying health facilities and villages in formerly endemic areas.
“With the certification of the DRC, the WHO has now certified 200 countries, areas and territories, including 188 WHO member-states, as free of dracunculiasis transmission. Only six countries remain to be certified, including five endemic countries (Angola, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, South Sudan) and one formerly endemic country (Sudan, which is now in the precertification stage).”
The Director, WHO’s Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, Dr Ibrahima Socé Fall, said there was a need to focus on certification of Sudan as the next milestone on the way towards global eradication of Guinea-worm disease.
Adding, the global health body said, “As one of the diseases referred to under the banner heading of neglected tropical diseases, news of the interruption of dracunculiasis transmission in the DRC comes in the wake of other recent success stories.
“Malawi recently eliminated trachoma as a public health problem, and in August 2022, Togo became the first country to be acknowledged as having eliminated four diseases (dracunculiasis, lymphatic filariasis, human African trypanosomiasis and trachoma).
“On behalf of all those who have suffered infection and disability as a result of the disease, the WHO congratulates all those involved in the interruption of dracunculiasis transmission in the DRC and salutes the efforts of partners and donors, without whom this achievement would not have been possible. Notably, since 1986, The Carter Centre has been a key global partner in the fight to consign Guinea-worm disease to the history books.
“The Government of the DR Congo is now committed, as per the WHO post-certification recommendations, to maintaining disease surveillance and to investigating and monitoring all rumours of reintroduction of the disease. This is part of the wider effort to interrupt transmission in all remaining endemic foci and countries, leading in due course, it is to be hoped, to a declaration of global eradication of the disease.”
