H.H. Sheikh Mohamed pledges $10 million for eradicating Guinea worm disease

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, is extending further support for the eradication of Guinea worm disease.

Sheikh Mohamed is contributing $10 million to the Carter Centre, which will go towards global health initiatives for tackling the disease.

The announcement comes ahead of the second annual World NTD Day on January 30, which aims to raise awareness about the urgent need to end Neglected Tropical Diseases.

The UAE's partnership with The Carter Centre is part of its larger, decades-long commitment towards global health and overcoming some of the world’s most deadly and debilitating diseases including malaria, polio and NTDs.

The partnership was originally initiated by a historic meeting when the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan invited the former US President Jimmy Carter to the UAE for the first time.

During the meeting, President Carter brought up his initiative to eradicate a parasitic disease that was causing devastation across large parts of Africa.

The late Sheikh Zayed responded with a substantial donation to the Carter Centre, which began a decades-long commitment by Abu Dhabi’s ruling family to disease eradication.