Jimmy Carter and the eradication of the Guinea Worm disease

Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, died peacefully Sunday, Dec. 29, at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family. He was 100, the longest-living president in U.S. history. Former president Jimmy Carter was touring villages in Ghana during the late 1980s when he first encountered people with Guinea worm disease. Guinea worm cases were averaging 3.5 million per year globally around the time Carter first toured Ghana. But thanks in large part to the efforts of the Carter Center the disease has been nearly stamped out. His efforts to eradicate this horrific disease improved the lives and well-being of many of the world’s poorest people. In 2014 VOA's Yeheyes Wuhib had the privilege of talking to President Jimmy Carter regarding Guinea Worm disease in Africa.