The people of South Sudan will vote beginning Jan. 9 to decide whether they wish to remain unified with the North or to form a separate country. Hear more about the significance of the upcoming referendum, the challenges ahead, and the Carter Center's contribution to the process. Learn more »
38-year-old Zaki Baushe holds a thin metal needle in his left hand as he deftly angles a thread through its eye. As a tailor in Akwanga local government area, Nasarawa State, Nigeria, it is an act that he has repeated thousands of times throughout his life. Yet several years ago, Baushe was in danger of losing this skill entirely.
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Despite challenges posed by insecurity in Southern Sudan, the region continues to see major reductions in cases of Guinea worm disease. From January to September 2010, only 1,549* cases were identified compared to 2,523 cases over the same period in 2009. Learn more »
For veteran journalist Raúl Novillo Alarcón, navigating the streets of La Paz, Bolivia, is easier than keeping pace with the country's political roadmap. "This is a difficult time for journalism in Bolivia," he said.
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One-third of people living in onchocerciasis-endemic communities in Latin America are no longer at risk for the debilitating disease also known as river blindness, thanks to the hard work and long-term commitment of six endemic countries—and with the support of The Carter Center and other partners—officials announced today during the 20th Inter-American Conference on Onchocerciasis (IACO). Learn more »
Impoverished communities in Amhara Region, Ethiopia—the world’s most trachoma-endemic area—are harnessing an innovative and far-reaching approach to treating and preventing this blinding bacterial infection. Approximately every six months, rotating between the eastern and western halves of Amhara, The Carter Center, in partnership with the Ethiopia Ministry of Health and Lions Clubs International Foundation, mobilizes millions of people in one week. Learn more »
By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Outside a polling station in north Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, hundreds of people waited behind closed gates for voting to begin. Women and the elderly sat on chairs they had brought or on the ground. By the time our team of observers arrived at 10 a.m., three hours after polling should have begun, voters were growing anxious in the baking sun. Some had gotten there at 4 or 5 that morning. Learn more »
The Carter Center is the only American nongovernmental organization observing the historic presidential elections in Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, and among the handful of international observers present, we have been deployed longer and more extensively than anyone else. These elections represent the first openly competitive contests for both nations since the end of French colonial rule a half-century ago. Learn more »
By Dr. Bornemann, director of the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have posed a unique set of psychological challenges to troops due to multiple tours of duty and a significantly greater prevalence of brain injury, among other factors. As a result, members of the military deployed in these wars have the highest rates of post-traumatic stress disorder on record. Learn more »
The late afternoon sun has begun to set as Philippe Nwane, 38, carrying a long plastic tube, walks slowly through a sweet potato field near a remote village in western Cameroon. He approaches a local stream and finds what he has been hunting for all afternoon—a spot where hundreds of buzzing black flies thicken the air.
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In Aloshi village in central Nigeria, four-year-old David Nuhu stands quietly as a health worker measures his height against a brightly colored pole. The health worker will use the measuring stick to carefully calculate what dose of Zithromax® (donated by Pfizer Inc.) will safely treat the little boy’s trachoma infection. Learn more »
Today, during a special ceremony in Atlanta, former U.S. President and Carter Center Founder Jimmy Carter received on behalf of The Carter Center two new pledges—$500,000 toward the Guinea Worm Eradication Program and $500,000 toward the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA)—from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), represented by His Excellency Director General Suleiman Jasir Al-Herbish. Learn more »
“The best way to overcome stigma is to learn that the man who sits in the next office suffers from depression or the neighbor you chat with on summer evenings is battling bipolar disorder. You know them; you’re not afraid of them…Together we can eliminate stigma and bring a better life. Learn more »
For Carter Center officer Pewee Flomoku, bringing justice to the citizens of Liberia is personal.
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Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter launched a journalism fellowship program in 1996 to increase accurate reporting of mental health issues as a way to fight stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses—some of the most serious, unrecognized, and under-reported health problems in the United States and worldwide. Learn more »
Guinea’s upcoming runoff presidential election between candidates Cellou Dalein Diallo and Alpha Condé is critical to both the country’s stability and that of the West African region. Recognizing the importance of this electoral process, The Carter Center has maintained its presence in Guinea since May 2010, with long-term observers deployed throughout the country and reporting back to the Center. Learn more »
On August 27, American teacher Aijalon Gomes was reunited with his family in Boston after being imprisoned seven months in North Korea. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter had embarked on a humanitarian mission to obtain Gomes’ release after he was arrested last January and subsequently sentenced to eight years of hard labor and fined about $600,000. Learn more »
Jimmy Carter has for years worked behind the scenes to secure the release of political prisoners. But this week he had to do it in person and in the public spotlight, traveling to North Korea to bring an American home.
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After seven months imprisoned in North Korea, American teacher Aijalon Gomes was reunited with his family this afternoon at Boston Logan Airport. The Carter Center delegation's plane landed at 2 p.m. today. President Carter embarked last Tuesday on a humanitarian mission to obtain Gomes release after he was arrested last January and subsequently sentenced. Learn more »
By Jane Bigham, assistant program coordinator for the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program
Many Liberians suffer from trauma, depression, and other mental health issues following more than a decade of civil conflict. With only one psychiatrist in the entire country, and just a handful of nurses with mental health training, treating those who suffer from mental illnesses has been almost impossible. Jane Bigham, assistant program coordinator for the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program, reflects on her journey and what a new Carter Center mental health initiative will mean for the people of Liberia. Learn more »
Quietly recalling the memory of people jumping from stadium walls to save their lives, and others falling like flies from the gunfire of soldiers, Bademba Diallo remembers thinking in the chaos of that afternoon: "you only die once."
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During a stopover at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, President and Mrs. Carter viewed, for the first time, the exhibit “Jimmy Carter: Georgia’s Native Son.” The Carters met with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and airport officials and enlightened a growing crowd with personal memories and behind the scenes insights. Learn more »
A groundbreaking project to identify and foster concensus on common standards for what constitutes a genuinely democratic election is the focus of a recently-published article in Democratization by Carter Center Democracy Program Assistant Director Avery Davis-Roberts and Director David Carroll. Learn more »
For the past two years, Carter Center observers have traveled around the country, assessing progress and reporting their findings as Nepal has undergone major transformation. Within the last five years, the Asian country has gone from monarchy to electing a constituent assembly charged with drafting a constitution.
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Public Radio International's “The World” examines Liberia's struggle with land disputes, as citizens return home after the war to find others living on land they claim as their own, in a story aired Aug. 3. The story also features the Carter Center’s John Hummel, who explains the country’s need for both a modern legal system and tribal justice system. Learn more »
The National Traditional Council of Liberia (NTC) recently honored Carter Center efforts in the country at a farewell ceremony for the Center’s outgoing country representative, John Hummel. Hummel was gowned in traditional clothing as a show of appreciation to him and The Carter Center for “its good will to the Liberian people,” describing him as “a son whom they will always miss.” Learn more »
The next time you are waiting for a flight at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, visit a president, and get to know “Jimmy Carter: Georgia’s Native Son.” This large exhibit flanks both sides of the corridor between Security and Concourse T and is packed with rare photos, art, and artifacts giving viewers a snapshot of President Carter’s life as a peanut farmer, a romantic, a politician, a president, a humanitarian, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Learn more »
A mortuary services soldier came home angry and suicidal, having processed the dead faces and body parts of numerous service members. A well-loved first sergeant killed himself in front of his men. A platoon that had just lost several soldiers refused to go back on patrol, fearful that their rage would lead to more death.
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Polls opened Sunday morning in Conakry to pouring rain, from which voters sought relief under trees and building overhangs. This was followed by a baking and relentless sun that lasted all day, as hundreds of people waited in line to vote across Conakry and Guinea. One voter told a Carter Center observer that she was in line for more than eight and a half hours. Learn more »
By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
Through the open second-story window of a mayor’s office outside Conakry, Guinea, came the sounds of hundreds of people passing by, some blowing on whistles and shouting for candidates, others riding in or on cars with horns and speakers blaring. Learn more »
The lives of an estimated 70 percent of the people living in Southern Sudan are intrinsically entwined with their cattle.
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Ghana recently became the first sub-Saharan African nation to eliminate blinding trachoma as a public health problem, thanks to a decade-long effort of Ghana Health Services in partnership with the Carter Center’s Trachoma Control Program. Trachoma has devastating effects on communities already on the brink of survival, but its most severe form — blindness — is now rarely found in Ghana due to the success of the SAFE strategy — Surgery, Antibiotics ®, Facial cleanliness, and Environmental hygiene. Trachoma thrives in a dry and dusty environment like that in Tingoli, northern Ghana, which is pictured here.
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By Peter Blair, a long-term observer for the Carter Center’s election observation mission in Guinea
Peter Blair is a long-term observer (LTO) for the Carter Center’s election observation mission in Guinea. Blair graduated with a degree in politics from the University of Nottingham, interned with the Carter Center’s Conflict Resolution Program, and worked as a media and communications assistant for Oxfam Ireland. Learn more »
The Andean-U.S. Dialogue Forum met in Lima, Peru, on June 1-2 to develop a common agenda to address problematic issues among the represented countries. The forum, which consists of influential citizens from a variety of sectors within each country, is designed to provide crucial support and reinforcement of diplomatic efforts through a civil society process. Learn more »
The Carter Center's new initiative to help Liberia’s indigenous leaders manage local disputes was recently featured by Voice of America. The Center’s efforts follow a 15-county consultation on the rule of law with traditional leaders in 2009, and a request from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Traditional Council for help strengthening the capacity of local leaders. Learn more »
Mekuria Amare, a health officer in the North Gondar Zone of Ethiopia, is currently completing his clinical training at Gondar University to become a medical doctor. Mekuria initially received training as a health officer, providing him the opportunity to provide general health care to a rural population. Learn more »
Abu Hamad, a vast and isolated desert community 500 kilometers from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, is on the verge of disproving a long-held belief among public health professionals that river blindness (onchocerciasis) cannot be eliminated in Africa due to poor health care delivery and the disease's prevalence.
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The Carter Center-led drive to eradicate Guinea worm disease gained significant momentum in 2009, with an all-time low of 3,190* total cases reported -- a 31 percent decrease from 2008.
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By Avery Davis Roberts, assistant director, Carter Center Democracy Program, and Amber Davis, assistant project coordinator, Carter Center Democracy Program
The Carter Center deployed a limited observation mission to observe the use of voting technology to the Philippines’ May 10 election as part of its Democratic Election Standards project, which includes addressing the challenges of observing electronic voting technologies. Learn more »
By Kelly Callahan, assistant director of program support for the Carter Center’s Health Programs
Kelly Callahan, assistant director of program support for the Carter Center’s Health Programs, blogs from a river blindness-endemic village in western Cameroon, where she is assessing Carter Center and national program efforts to combat the devastating parasitic infection. Learn more »
Impact from the Carter Center’s African Regional Conference on the Right of Access to Information, held in Ghana in February, is still being felt around the African continent as stakeholders work to advance the right and foster communication about remaining challenges. Learn more »
In Ghana, where the government is currently debating the passage of a right to information bill, Nana Oye Lithur coordinates the campaign to ensure the proposed law will conform to international standards and enhance transparency and accountability.
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It is early morning in Molujore village of Terekeka County in Southern Sudan, and Viviana Kolong, a 30-year-old mother of three, dresses carefully in a cool, yellow and white cotton dress and orange flip flops, adding a black bracelet and white beaded rosary to complete her outfit. As the wind picks up and the temperature starts its punishing rise, Kolong leaves her mud hut, passing by her home's empty grain stores. As usual, it will be a long day.
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Cheng Li, director of research and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's John L. Thornton China Center, was part of a small Carter Center delegation that traveled to China in March to advance the Center's programming efforts there.
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Over the past three years, The Carter Center, in partnership with the Nigeria Ministry of Health, has introduced an innovative way of simultaneously treating several parasitic diseases in Nigeria. In this approach — known as triple-drug treatment — a health worker gives a community member three different medicines at one time that in combination treat river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, and several kinds of intestinal worms. In the interview that follows, Frank Richards Jr., M.D., who directs the Center's programs for fighting these diseases, discusses the benefits of the triple-drug approach.
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"Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis," by Rosalynn Carter with Susan K. Golant and Kathryn E. Cade, published by Rodale Books.
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More than 140 Ambassadors Circle members and friends are gathered at The Carter Center in Atlanta for the 2010 Annual Executive Briefing and Presidential Reception today. The two-day event, featuring firsthand updates from the Center’s peace and health experts, kicked off with an opening evening reception April 22 followed by Conversations at The Carter Center, “Improving the Lives of Women." Learn more »
With a population of approximately 17 million, the Amhara Region of Ethiopia is one of the most severely affected trachoma-endemic areas in the world. There are currently more than 15 million people at risk of infection and approximately 470,000 people visually impaired as a result of trichiasis, the blinding form of the disease. In addition, the region is susceptible to seasonal malaria epidemics, putting the majority of the population at risk for the potentially fatal disease.
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Teshome Gebre, the Carter Center's country representative for health programs in Ethiopia, likes to joke that he has been in public health service for what seems like 100 years. Yet, it's impossible to ignore the great joy Teshome has received from a lifetime dedicated to fighting disease in his native Ethiopia.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center
In Sudan, people across the country began voting on Sunday. Here are images from the first two days of balloting. This is the 78th election observed by The Carter Center. Learn more »
Impoverished communities in Amhara Region, Ethiopia—the world's most trachoma-endemic area—are harnessing an innovative and far-reaching approach to treating and preventing this blinding bacterial infection.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director, Communications Department
Sudan’s historic elections, the country’s first in 24 years, begin on Sunday and will include nearly one week of voting and counting the ballots. The Carter Center deployed approximately 70 observers to Sudan’s 25 states. Campaigning officially ended today, and in Khartoum, election materials were packed up. Learn more »
Carter Center long-term observers in Sudan, who have been deployed since August 2009, will soon be joined by a full delegation to observe the country's April elections. In teams of two, long-term observers have assessed pre-election developments, including voter registration in December.
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The Carter Center announced today that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Algerian Foreign Minister and member of the Elders Lakhdar Brahimi, Judge Joseph Warioba, and Carter Center President and CEO Dr. John Hardman will lead the Center’s international election observation delegation to observe Sudan’s elections, which are scheduled to begin on April 11. Learn more »
Recent political events in Cote d’Ivoire introduced a serious disruption, hopefully temporary, of election preparations and demonstrated how easily the West African country could slide back into conflict. Elections there have been delayed several times; The Carter Center has been the only international election observation group present during the entire process and has deployed teams of observers for different phases. Learn more »
The Carter Center is hosting its 2009 health program reviews March 23-31, 2010, with experts from around the world –including representatives from partner organizations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lions Clubs International, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – gathered in Atlanta to assess program status and adopt recommendations for the coming year. Learn more »
The Carter Center, long at the forefront of the election observation field, is working with students at Georgia Tech University to take the field forward again – using smartphone technology to streamline the observation process and compile the findings of observers in a fast, efficient, and transparent way.
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Merekaje Lorna can't wait to vote. A domestic election observer trained by The Carter Center in Sudan, she believes she and other young Sudanese have a responsibility to contribute to credible elections for the sake of the next generation, and as her country approaches its first multi-party elections in 24 years, she looks forward to being able to choose her leaders.
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Brother and sister Juan Tavares Rodriguez and Casilda Trejada Abreu live with their family in a pine board home in La Bomba, Dominican Republic.
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A small Carter Center delegation is in China this week to advance the Center’s programming efforts there. The Center has worked to help standardize the vast array of electoral procedures taking place in local communities and foster better governance for more than a decade, at the invitation of the Chinese government. Learn more »
A series of experts, including Carter Center Americas Program Director Jennifer McCoy and former Latin American leaders, will convene on March 15 at Georgia State University (GSU) to analyze recent democratic crises in the region, including the Honduran coup and recent events in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Learn more »
<p>In his new book, “Wars, Guns, and Votes,” Oxford economist Paul Collier argues that the international community – presumably including The Carter Center – focuses too much on holding elections and ignores the underlying problems of insecurity and lack of checks and balances essential for democratic development. Collier will discuss his concerns during a Carter Center Conversation on Wednesday from …</p> Learn more »
Mekuria Amare, a health officer in the North Gondar Zone of Ethiopia, is currently completing his clinical training at Gondar University to become a medical doctor. Mekuria initially received training as a health officer, providing him the opportunity to provide general health care to a rural population. In 2007, he was trained by The Carter Center to provide trichiasis surgery at his health post in the remote district of Telemt.
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The Carter Center's annual Winter Weekend auction, held Feb. 27 at Port St. Lucie, Fla., raised $1,322,300 — the second-highest amount raised in the event's history — to benefit the not-for-profit Center’s initiatives to advance peace and health worldwide. The highest bid items at the fundraiser were two original paintings by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, which sold for $290,000. Learn more »
The last case of Guinea worm disease in Nigeria was suffered by Grace Otubu, 58, of Ezza Nkwubor village in Enugu state, whose worm emerged in November 2008. Twelve months later, Nigeria triumphed over the ancient, crippling affliction, also known as dracunculiasis, that had affected hundreds of thousands of Nigerians at its peak. The success of Africa's most populous nation against this debilitating waterborne parasite would not have been possible without the hard work of the endemic communities, the relentless vigilance of the national program, and the dedication of Gen. Dr. Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria's former head of state.
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For the past two days at The Carter Center, influential nongovernmental participants from the United States and the five Andean countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia have gathered for a dialogue aimed to strengthen the historically difficult U.S.-Andean relations and cooperation. Learn more »
Working with monitors from the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), The Carter Center supports legal advice services in marginalized rural communities through a network of 32 Community Legal Advisors (CLAs) in eight counties. Learn more »
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with Sudanese officials to urge peace and stability in the nation as it prepares for its first multi-party elections in 24 years in April, which the Carter Center's international election observation team will monitor. Learn more »
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Central Equatoria State Governor Clement Wani Konga, and Commissioner Clement Maring Samuel today urged intensification of efforts to wipe out Guinea worm disease, a waterborne parasitic infection, in the remote village of Molujore, Terekeka County, Southern Sudan. The village visit was followed by a press conference at the Assembly Hall in Juba, with representatives from Sudan's Ministry. Learn more »
On the twentieth anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from a South African prison, Carter Center Vice President for Peace Programs John Stremlau writes for CNN.com that “Mandela must continue to embody the roles for South Africans that Washington, Lincoln, and King serve in protecting and advancing democracy in America. Learn more »
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, are in Sudan—the world’s most Guinea worm-endemic country—to personally appeal for completing eradication of the crippling waterborne parasite as soon as possible and to urge peace and stability in the nation as it prepares for its first multi-party elections in 24 years in April, which the Carter Center’s international election observation team will monitor. Learn more »
The African Regional Conference on the Right of Access to Information began Sunday in Accra, Ghana. More than 130 participants arrived from 20 African countries as well as Mexico, Canada, India, Australia, and the United States. Learn more »
The Carter Center has deep roots in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and one plagued by poisonous politics. Jimmy Carter’s 1978 visit was the first time a U.S. president visited an African state. The Carter Center has worked there since 1988 to eradicate or control neglected diseases like Guinea worm and river blindness. Learn more »
Olawale Fapohunda believes that the proposed African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) will enable African citizens to more fully participate in the electoral process and advance protection of human rights by African governments. And, in places like his home country of Nigeria, he feels the need for its ratification is vital. Learn more »
Three years ago, Yalanbu Zenabu of Botingli, northern Ghana, was consumed by the daily suffering of trachoma. As a victim of trichiasis, the blinding form of trachoma, her disease had progressed to the stage where her eyelashes scratched against her eye, causing intense pain and debilitation.
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Listen to Laura Neuman, associate director for the Americas Program at The Carter Center and the access to information project manager, discuss the upcoming conference. Learn more »
A crowd of children follow Jonel Mompremier, 27, as he travels from house to house in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. They giggle as the health worker asks the same question at every doorstep, "Does anyone at home have any fevers?"
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It's a Sunday afternoon in La Bomba barrio, a subdistrict of Dajabón, Dominican Republic, and the entire community can be found outside their clapboard and cement block homes to beat the stifling heat.
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In September 2008, The Carter Center and a binational effort between the Dominican Republic and Haiti launched a historic one-year initiative to help the countries and their other partners accelerate the elimination of two devastating mosquito-borne infections—malaria and lymphatic filariasis.
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If passion is a key ingredient for success, then Dr. Mauricio Sauerbrey embodies the necessary "stuff" for meeting the goal of interrupted transmission of river blindness — or onchocerciasis—in the Americas by 2012.
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China Elections and Governance Online, a project of the Carter Center's China Program, has received top honors from two major Chinese publications. Learn more »
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