When Northern Nigeria was down to its last remaining cases of Guinea worm disease, Dr. Adamu Keana Sallau and his team had to get creative. As the Carter Center director for integrated health programs in the country’s Imo and Abia States in Nigeria, Sallau knew that stigma and far flung geography would made it difficult to spot infections — and every case had to be found to end the disease.

If Guinea worm is eradicated, it would be just the second disease after smallpox to disappear from the planet.

Last week, Sallau was among half a dozen other frontline health workers honored for their roles in pushing Guinea worm to the brink of eradication through the inaugural Recognizing Excellence around Champions of Health, or REACH, awards. The awards were given by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Reaching the Last Mile global health summit last Wednesday.

There have been just 26 cases of Guinea worm in 2017 so far, down from 3.5 million cases in 21 countries in Africa and Asia in 1986. Nigeria, the most endemic country, had 650,000 cases at its peak, before dropping to zero in 2013.

Read the full article on Guinea worm disease by Elizabeth Dickinson at Devex International Development