The National Ministry of Health reports that it’s close to eradicating the crippling parasitic guinea worm in South Sudan. The ministry said on Wednesday that South Sudan will be declared free of guinea worm over the next two years.
Statistical information from the World Health Organization shows that 97 percent of all guinea worm cases are in South Sudan, while the remaining three percent are to be found in Chad, Mali and Ethiopia.
The Director of Guinea Eradication Program in the Ministry of Health, Samuel Makoy Yibi, said that more than one thousand people in 143 villages across South Sudan are infected by the worm.
Yibi said 60 percent of the guinea worm cases have been reported in Equatoria State, while the remaining 40 percent of the cases are in Warrap, Jonglei and Central Equatoria States.
The ministry of Health has established 16 guinea worm control facilities in the States worst hit by guinea worm infestations.
He said the worm affects mainly the rural poor who have no access to clean water.
The Guinea worm is acquired through drinking dirty water and grows in the body until it starts emerging from the skin causing severe pain. The worm takes a year to grow out of the body.
Health experts say there is no vaccine to prevent the disease and no medicine to treat the guinea worm infestations.
