The long time needed for global eradication of dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) was not anticipated at the outset. The successful eradication of smallpox in 10 years compares with the target date set in 1985 for dracunculiasis eradication - 1995. Seventeen years after that date, transmission continues. Why? Various factors are responsible, mainly lack of resources, or resources ineffectively used. The example of Ghana, where the programme stagnated for a decade, sheds light on this delay. When more resources were put into Ghana's programme in 2007, transmission of the disease was interrupted in 3 years. The variable success of dracunculiasis eradication in different countries provides lessons for future disease eradication programmes.