ATLANTA — A new documentary titled “The President and The Dragon” will be released on October 1, coinciding with what would have been former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s 101st birthday.
The film chronicles Carter’s decades-long fight to eradicate Guinea worm disease, a mission he championed from 1986 until his death in December 2024.
The documentary highlights how Carter and a diverse group of public health professionals, local volunteers, and ex-child soldiers worked to reduce Guinea worm cases from 3.5 million in 1986 to just 15 last year.
“My grandfather desperately wanted to outlive Guinea worm, and he came remarkably close to doing it,” said Jason Carter, Carter Center board chair and the eldest grandson of President Carter and the late First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
“He witnessed firsthand what freeing a community from this terrible disease meant to people’s daily lives, and The Carter Center will keep working until there are zero cases.”
The documentary will be available on-demand across Amazon, Hoopla, and Verizon Fios, with additional platforms to follow.
Co-director Waleed Eltayeb, a Sudanese filmmaker based in Dubai, traveled with his crew to remote locations on the African continent where the waterborne disease occurs.
He captured the difficult and often dangerous work of the ‘Guinea worm warriors’ working on the frontlines of public health.
Guinea worm disease is close to becoming the second human disease ever eradicated, following smallpox.
TRENDING STORIES:
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group
