In 1983-84, National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) was made the nodal agency by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, for planning, co-ordination, guidance and evaluation of Guinea Worm Eradication Programme (GWEP).
At the beginning of the Programme i.e. in 1984, about 40,000 GW cases were reported annually in 12,840 guinea worm endemic villages across 89 districts of the then endemic states, viz. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The State of Tamil Nadu remained free from GW disease since 1982. The last case from Maharashtra occurred in 1992 and in 1994 in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat reported their last cases in 1990. The last guinea worm case was reported in July 1996 Jodhpur district of Rajasthan.
Simple technologies like filtering drinking water through a cloth and by providing basic health education enabled India to achieve DracunculiasisEradication. There is no other disease education or elimination effort that is being achieved with such a cheap & simple method.
International Certification Team (ICT) of International Commission for Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication (ICCDE), World Health Organization certified India as free from guinea worm disease on 15th February, 2000. However, team recommended routine surveillance and IEC to be continued till global eradication of the disease, which are being undertaken in all formerly guinea worm disease endemic states.
A monograph “Guinea Worm Disease in India” was published and released in 2001 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
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