UNICEF digs wells to fight Guinea worm in east

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has begun digging 15 modern wells equipped with water pumps in the town of Bangassou, 742 km east of the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), Bangui, where the Guinea worm disease has been reported by medical services, a UNICEF official told IRIN on Monday. Dr Eugene Kpizingui, an epidemiologist and UNICEF health and nutrition project officer, said that the eastern provinces of Mbomou, Haut Mbomou, Haute Kotto and Vakaga were endemic zones, mostly because local populations did not have access to clean drinking water. He said the region was close to neighbouring Sudan, a highly endemic zone. "These provinces lack modern systems of water supply," he said. Kpizingui said that the lack of early appropriate diagnosis and education contributed to the propagation of the disease. Developing in stagnant water and entering the human body orally, Guinea worm, whose scientific name is dracunculiasis, was first suspected in the CAR with the arrival of Sudanese refugees in the east of the country in the late 1980s. The first cases were confirmed in 1998. Due to education and the digging of modern wells equipped with pumps, the number of registered cases decreased from around 20 each year between 1998 and 2001 to around two cases each of the following two years. Kpizingui said the 15 wells being dug for Bangassou's 10,000 residents would not be enough and would need to be followed by others. In the east, he said, wells were handed over to local managing committees that collected money from users for maintenance of the pumps. In each village, Kpizingui added, UNICEF has trained two people on how to service wells and water pumps.