Abstract

Guinea worm disease, dracunculiasis, is widespread in rural Nigeria, where an estimated 2.5 million cases occur every year. This study documents the use of multiple intervention strategies, based on community self-help in collaboration with health researchers, to eliminate Guinea worm in the village of Igbon, in Oyo State, Nigeria. In November 1978 the village had a point prevalence rate of 59% at the height of the period of patency and disease transmission. Advised by the university-based researchers who conducted the survey, villagers combined in a series of cooperative efforts which culminated in the construction of wells which provided them with a protected water supply. Since 1982 no cases of Guinea worm have been recorded in the village. Igbon is now free from its annual 'festival of agony', the village has increased in population, and economic activities flourish. Self-help activities such as those carried out in Igbon could be a very useful part of the current Guinea worm eradication campaign in Nigeria.