'The President and the Dragon' highlights Jimmy Carter's efforts to eradicate guinea worm

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published October 1, 2025 at 8:46 AM PDT

In this Nov. 4, 2010 photo, Ajak Kuol Nyamchiek, 7, watches while John Lotiki, a nurse with the Carter Center, bandages the blister on her leg from where a guinea worm is slowly emerging in Abuyong, Sudan. (Maggie Fick/AP)

A new documentary called “The President and the Dragon” looks at the late former President Jimmy Carter’s effort to eradicate guinea worm, a parasite once found across Africa and parts of Asia. Since the Carter Center started working on the cause, the disease has been nearly eradicated.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd speaks with Jason Carter, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter and Makoy Samuel Yibi, director of South Sudan’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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