Guinea worm disease is caught by drinking water containing tiny water fleas infected with the parasite larvae. Inside the body, the worm grows for about a year and can reach nearly a metre in length before it emerges, usually through the skin of a leg or foot, causing a painful blister. Infected people often soak the wound in water to ease the pain, which releases more larvae back into ponds and cause new infections. The WHO recorded over 890,000 cases worldwide in 1989, and only 14 human cases were reported in 2023. The campaign that drove this decline relied on filtering drinking water, treating ponds, and health education rather than a vaccine or drug.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.