Jimmy Carter hoped to outlive the Guinea worm — and he came achingly close. Carter helped lead a decades-long campaign against the parasitic infection.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter spent decades waging war against an ancient parasite. Carter has tried to rid the Earth of Guinea worm, which infects people who drink unclean water tainted with larva.

I would like to see Guinea worm completely eradicated before I die,” Carter said at a news conference in 2015. “I’d like for the last Guinea worm to die before I do. I think right now we have 11 cases.

Since the re-emergence of guinea worm in a remote village in South Sudan, the Carter Center has returned to raise awareness about what Guinea worm looks like, distribute water filters and train people on how to use them.

On a 2007 visit to Savelugu Hospital in Ghana, President Jimmy Carter asks a group of children if they've had Guinea worm. A raised hand is a yes.

The former president changed global health by sparing millions of people from Guinea worm, river blindness and other preventable diseases.