Another huge health issue in Savelugu is guinea worm. Guinea worm is a parasite contracted from contaminated water. The contaminated water is always dam water and once swallowed, a female worm grows inside the body for one year before emerging. The actual disease is a bit more complicated than this, but the point is that it is excruciatingly painful (though not deadly) for the host. It is actually very difficult to get this disease, because it doesn’t come from pipe or borehole water—only unfiltered dam water. Mostly children get the disease from swimming and swallowing the water. This is Abibata, working at the guinea worm containment shelter.