WHA64.16 Elimination of dracunculiasis

Overview

The Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly,

Having considered the report on dracunculiasis;

Recalling resolutions WHA39.21 and WHA42.29 on elimination of dracunculiasis and WHA44.5, WHA50.35 and WHA57.9 on eradication of dracunculiasis;

Recalling that health ministers of countries that were endemic for dracunculiasis in 2004 signed, during the Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly, the Geneva Declaration for the Eradication of Dracunculiasis by 2009;

Noting the resolutions on the eradication of dracunculiasis adopted by the Regional Committee for Africa;

Noting with satisfaction the excellent results achieved by the countries where dracunculiasis is endemic in decreasing the number of cases from an estimated 3.5 million in 1986 to 3190 reported cases in 2009 and less than 1800 reported cases in 2010;

Encouraged that only four countries remained endemic for dracunculiasis at the end of 2009, all in sub-Saharan Africa, and that 187 countries and territories have been certified free of dracunculiasis transmission;

Congratulating all parties concerned, particularly UNICEF and The Carter Center, for increasing the availability of safe drinking-water, improving surveillance case detection and case containment, strengthening other interventions and expanding public awareness of the disease.