President Carter devoted half of this book to Guinea worm disease, nature of the illness, its epidemiology, its cause and the current importance from a public health and human suffering standpoint. Carter's leadership was highly influential in the near complete eradication of this disease. He then explained his plan for prevention leading to the virtual eradication of this illness from the earth. The main instrument of prevention is a straw like ‘pipe filter’ which is handed out along with education to millions in all the endemic areas of Africa. This filter carries a cord like necklace, that is worn by each individual on a 24/7 basis, and utilized each time they drink water from their water holes, all of which are contaminated by the copepod that carries the larvae of this parasite in the water. The filter has a sieve size that does not allow the copepod to pass through, and thus the water ingested is never contaminated. This effort brought the number of cases from at least 3.5 million new cases per year to near zero.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)