Former United States president, Jimmy Carter, wrote the article "Sudan Can Rid World of a Horrible Disease," published by cnn.com. This article is about a disease taking a toll on the already poverished African country Sudan. This disease is the Guinea Worm Disease; a parasitic infection caused by infected drinking water. Jimmy Carter and his non-profit peace and health organization, The Carter Center, are teaming up to put an end to the Guinea Worm Disease in Sudan and the rest of the world.
Carter emphasizes his desires to combat the disease. He continues to urge people to filter their water, as it could be contaminated. He also suggests that the Guniea worm victimes stay out of natual water sources when the worm in emerging in order to prevent more larve from settling in the water and infecting more people. Due to the already drastic decrease in Guniea Worm disease cases (3.5 million cases in 20 nations in 1986, to 3,200 cases in 2009) The Carter Center beleives eradicating the disease is quite likely as long as it can be demloished in Sudan, Ghana, Mali, and Ethiopia, where cases still remain.
Another effort that the Carter Center has been making in order to boost eradication time is providing safe drinking water to highly infected areas. A small percentage, only 16%, of Sudanese villages have one source of uncontaminated water. The effort is coming along, but it is happening very slowly, as providing enough clean water is tricky and a lot of work. The Carter Center is trying to set up underground water sources containing safe water which is very time consuming. Many of the workers are volunteers, which makes the process less costly and more personal. The Sudanese are also doing their best to help and volunteer to rid the disease. They would like the world to see that even during difficult times of war, they can focus on the benefit of their country and help eradicate the Guinea worm disease, which could help the world.
I choose this article because it is about an ifectious disease. It also realtes to class because we have talked about diseases contracted by infected water before, and it is about a poverty-stricken country, like Haiti is. The article also struck me initially because Jimmy Carter wrote it and discussed his organization and the impact Guinea worm disease had on him and his plans to abolish it. For me, the article realeased a satisfied emotion, as it was assuring to see that powerful Americans are willing to help Sudan even during a very dangerous time there.
This article can be found at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/04/06/jimmy.carter.disease/index.html
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i admit that I have never heard of Guinea worm disease but i wish i could have learned about it. I think that this article fits in really well with our class. Guinea worm disease is contracted through infected water and it sounds like a scary disease considering it has killed a lot of people. It also scares me that only 16 percent of villages in Sudan have uncontaminated water. This is a very low number and I am sure this has a huge impact on Sudan. I am happy that one of our presidents is in Sudan helping to end this terrible infectious disease.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very inspirational and it moved me to know that people are out there trying their best to help other people and eradicate infectious diseases. Even though the disease still claims many innocent lives each year, it has decreased significantly and I think that is amazing that Jimmy Carter did that. It was also really nice to know that there were volunteers who were willing to donate their time to help the less fortunate. It is awful that all because of contaminated drinking water people are consuming parasites and getting sick. Everyone should have access to clean water and it is inexcusable that there are still countless places in the world who do not have this priveledge.
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