The Feature

Jimmy Carter's Fight to Eradicate the Guinea Worm

for spiegel.de

The UN had just failed in its efforts to eradicate malaria, yellow fever and the hookworm. The Guinea worm was also considered a hopeless case. But Carter recognized the worm as a potential project. At the time, the Guinea worm afflicted three-and-a-half million people in Asia and Africa every year. The plague was called the “disease of empty granaries,” because victims cannot walk and are therefore unable to bring in the harvest. “We knew that we might fail,” says Carter. “We were willing to risk failure if we believed it was worthwhile.”