Dracunculiasis certification: evaluation missions assess readiness level in three countries

15 December 2016
Departmental update
Geneva
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has conducted evaluation missions in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan to assess their level of readiness to finalize dossiers for submission to WHO, ahead of visits by the International Certification Team.

“The level of preparedness in all three countries is high, although Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have never officially reported any case of guinea-worm disease” said Dr Dieudonné Sankara, head of the WHO Dracunculiasis Eradication Team. “Sudan, which was endemic in the past, has maintained a consistently high level of surveillance with the support of a well-structured cash reward system that encourages people to report any suspected case of human disease.”

 In Sudan, the team visited 9 out of 18 states; it interviewed almost 1800 individuals from 45 health facilities, including 29 surveillance offices in 83 villages.

In Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, WHO has supported efforts by both countries to implement their certification roadmap. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, standalone case searches have been completed in 17 of the country’s 26 provinces. Zero confirmed cases have been reported so far.

“The Democratic Republic of the Congo has integrated searches for cases of guinea-worm disease with large-scale treatment programmes for trachoma in districts of Katanga province and plans to integrate this approach nationally using the polio eradication network as from the end of this year” added Dr Sankara.

 Angola has carried out intensive searches for the disease; zero cases have been reported so far. The WHO team has conducted a field visit to the country’s Bengo Province and met with the Minister of Health, Dr Luis Gomes Sambo – the former Regional Director of WHO Africa’s Region – who expressed his ministry’s commitment to ensuring that Angola will meet the requirements for certification within the shortest possible time.

Increase in number of cases

By 31 October 2016, the number of confirmed human cases had risen to 23, compared with 22 cases for the whole of 2015, largely due to 15 cases of human transmission in Chad.

Furthermore, Chad reported 987 dogs infected with Dracunculus medinensis during the period January–October 2016. This high rate of detection is largely attributed to heightened surveillance and, since early 2015, the availability of a cash reward (of about US$ 20) for reporting infections in dogs.

Out of the four countries where human dracunculiasis remains endemic (Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan), Ethiopia has reported 3 cases and South Sudan 5. Although Mali has reported zero human cases since the beginning of 2016, it has recorded 11 dogs infected with D. medinensis.