Creating technologyto save lives by preventing disease. That's the mission of the Vestergaard-Frandsen company, based in Switzerland. In this first of a five part series we'll talk about these devices, beginning with the pipe filter, whichmakes contaminated water safe to drink. The filter prevents guinea worm diseaseby cleaning the water and is distributed by the Carter Center in Atlanta. KellyCallahan, the center's assistant director of program support, describes it.
"It's like a straw.It's aplastic tubing that has on the end farthest from the mouth a filter cloth, andthe end closest to the mouth is open so that someone can suck water through thepipe filter. It has a string, worn around the neck so that it's an individualwater filtering system that can be carried anywhere," she says.
The Carter Center specialist says theinspiration for the pipe filter came many years ago from a nomadic group inWest Africa:
"There's a group of people called Tuaregs ?andwe were distributing filter cloths for household use -- they are nomadic peopleand they move with their cattle, camels and goats -- They found that the filtercloths were not appropriate for them, so they cut the filter cloth in smallpieces and used reeds from water areas. They cut the reeds and dried them andtook the cut pieces of filter cloth, tied it on the end and made their ownstraws."
Callahan says the pipe filter cloth has beenreplaced with a steel mesh providing a more effective and longer lastingfilter. She says the filter has proven to be extremely effective over theyears. As a Carter Center country representative in Southern Sudan in 2001, shewas a witness. "We carried out a massive pipe filterdistribution. We actually produced, with refugees, nine million, two hundredand eighty-five thousand pipe filters to blanket the entire country of Sudan atthe time?in all areas that were endemic for guinea worm?and that served toreduce the number of cases dramatically in Sudan.
Callahan says in 1986 there were 20 countrieswith cases of guinea worm, but with the use of the pipe filter and otherinterventions, that number has dwindled. Now, she says, distribution is focusedon Southern Sudan, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria, "Currently, there are onlyfive countries that have cases of guinea worm disease, two of which have lessthan five thousand cases reported in 2008."
If the current trend of eradicationcontinues, Callahan has reason to believe that guinea worm disease will soon be a thing of the past, "Hopefully,this year -- we'll be able to stop transmission of guinea worm disease in 2009.We all have our hopes set on that goal."
If you'd like moreinformation on the Pipe Filter and other Vestergaard Frandsen products thatprevent disease, go to their website at .Vestergaard is spelled v-e-s-t-e-r-g-a-a-r-d. And Frandsen is spelled f-r-a-n-d-s-e-n. Once again that website address is