Guinea Worm disease is a parasitic infection that usually affects people in rural, poverty-stricken communities.

There’s a global campaign to eradicate the debilitating disease by 2009. In the past year, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Togo reported ZERO cases of Guinea worm disease, raising the number of countries that have completed eradication to fifteen.

Dr. Donald Hopkins is Vice President of Health Programs for the Carter Center. He’s spearheaded the effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease. The Carter Center has also led the way in the effort to eradicate river blindness.