Carter Center receives $40 million in donations to fight Guinea worm disease

By Shelia M. Poole

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Atlanta-based Carter Center announced Monday it received $40 million in donations to fight Guinea worm disease.

The donations were made by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates , and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. The funds will help end Guinea worm disease by 2015.

The Carter Center, which has been leading the fight to eradicate the disease in 1986, said preliminary results show only 1,060 cases of Guinea worm occurred globally in 2011.

The 2011 cases occurred in three endemic nations – Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan, according to the Carter Center. There was also an isolated outbreak in Chad.