Dracunculiasis: more than 50% drop in reported cases during first half of 2012
Health worker during community awareness campaign, showing guinea worm disease ID card. WHO/Gautam Biswas
24 August 2012 | Geneva
Reported cases of dracunculiasis (more commonly known as guinea-worm disease) during the first six months of 2012 dropped by more than 50% compared with figures published at the end of June 2011.
Between 1 January and 30 June 2012, a total of 396 cases were reported from four countries (Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan). This compares favourably to 807 cases reported to WHO during the same period in 2011.