Closing the Gap on Guinea Worm Disease / Jimmy Carter and Margaret Chan to announce major new funding campaign to wipe out Guinea worm disease
LONDON, United-Kingdom, September 30, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Media Advisory
WHAT: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan will announce a major new funding campaign to finish the job on Guinea worm disease. In the next few years, the campaign aims to bring an end to the waterborne parasite, which debilitates people in the developing world. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development Stephen O’Brien will announce British support for the campaign.
Guinea worm is poised to become the first parasitic disease to be eradicated, and only the second human disease to be wiped out worldwide, following smallpox in 1979. Isolated communities in newly independent South Sudan harbour the majority of cases remaining in 2011, marking the final phase in the international eradication campaign led by The Carter Center, in partnership with endemic countries, WHO and many others. After 25 years of progress—without any vaccine or medicine—cases worldwide have been reduced by more than 99 percent of the initial 3.5 million when the campaign began.
WHEN: Wednesday, 5 October 2011
10-10:40 a.m. GMT
WHERE: The Commonwealth Club, Mandela Room
25 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5AP
SPEAKERS:
Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization
Jimmy Carter, Former U.S. President, Founder of The Carter Center
Stephen O’Brien, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development, UK
RSVP: The event is not open to the public. Interested media must RSVP no later than
4 p.m. GMT on Tuesday, 4 October. RSVP to
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EDITOR’S
NOTE: Participating media must arrive by 9:30 a.m. for security check, doors close promptly at 9:45 a.m. RSVP, photo identification and current press credentials required.
Field footage and photos available upon request:
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SOURCE
World Health Organization (WHO)
