It’s the horrific plague, the “fiery serpent” of the Bible, found in Egyptian mummies, and may be the inspiration of the modern symbol for medicine. Found today only in the most isolated and neglected communities of the world, Guinea worm disease once afflicted approximately 3.5 million people in Africa and Asia. Learn more »
A keyboard, an Internet connection, and a comfy coffee shop chair is one way to do research. But it's not the way for Dr. Brandon Kohrt, consultant to the Carter Center's Mental Health Liberia Project, who needs a good off-road vehicle and a compassionate ear to gather information about the beliefs, feelings, and experiences Liberians have surrounding mental illnesses.
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Stewart was a summer 2012 graduate assistant for the Carter Center’s Trachoma Control Program. She traveled to Ethiopia to help survey families about the Center’s trachoma prevention activities in partnership with the local communities. Learn more »
The Nov. 17, 2012, presidential and parliamentary elections were the first self-administered elections to be conducted in Sierra Leone since the end of the civil war in 2002, representing an important test for the country's democratic consolidation.
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By Nick Jahr, long-term observer
Sierra Leone’s last election was a historic one: the first time the country’s opposition took power more or less peacefully. This also will be a landmark of another sort: the first election conducted solely …</p> Learn more »
Former U.S. President and Carter Center Founder Jimmy Carter is answering questions from the public via Facebook, Twitter, and this blog starting Oct. 19, 2012, as part of a year-long commemoration of the Center’s 30th anniversary waging peace and fighting disease worldwide. Learn more »
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has been named the 2012 recipient of the CDC Foundation’s Hero Award. The foundation honored President Carter for three decades of visionary leadership focused on saving lives, reducing suffering, and providing hope for millions of the world’s poorest people, as well as for his commitment to achieving a more peaceful and healthy world for us all. Learn more »
At a special ceremony at The Carter Center in Atlanta today, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Merck CEO Dr. Roy Vagelos, former Carter Center Executive Director, Dr. Bill Foege, and other guests and dignitaries from around the world gathered to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Merck’s Mectizan® Donation Program. Learn more »
In Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), thousands of children spend their days digging, breaking stones, and transporting and washing minerals, risking exposure to dangerous levels of radiation, potential pulmonary diseases, and physical and sexual abuse by peers and adults.
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It was late afternoon in Dorum, southern Niger, when a man and his elderly mother rode in on a motorcycle. The woman's calm façade belied the excruciating pain she felt. An hour-long ride outdoors through dusty roads in the midday sun comprised some of the worst conditions a woman with an advanced eye disease could face. But as agonizing as it was, the journey likely saved her eyesight
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In Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), thousands of children spend their days digging, breaking stones, and transporting and washing minerals, risking exposure to dangerous levels of radiation, potential pulmonary diseases, and physical and sexual abuse by peers and adults. Learn more »
By Rebecca Palpant Shimkets, assistant director, Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism
The voices of millions will join together this month for breast cancer awareness in walks and runs while pink ribbons are proudly displayed on cars, pins, and airplanes. The walls of secrecy and shame that surrounded breast cancer patients and survivors until recently are toppling with increased public understanding and advances in treatments. Learn more »
For the first time, former U.S. President and Carter Center Founder Jimmy Carter will answer questions from the public via Facebook, Twitter, and this blog, as part of a year-long commemoration of the Center’s 30th anniversary of waging peace and fighting disease worldwide. Learn more »
In Guatemala 25 years ago, on a coffee farm situated at the slope of a volcano, Frank O. Richards Jr., M.D., sat under a thinly thatched roof talking with an old man. Chickens foraged on the dirt floor, and a mangy dog slept in the corner.
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On Oct. 10, through a partnership between The Carter Center and PsychCentral.com, dozens of bloggers will participate in a blog party, publishing their thoughts about mental health in observance of World Mental Health Day. “Mental illness affects all of us, but there are still many myths and misconceptions about these disorders,” said former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Learn more »
Ahead of key Oct. 7 presidential elections in Venezuela, The Carter Center is conducting an independent study mission to follow the campaign, with political and electoral analysts interviewing political actors and technical experts on the ground. The Carter Center also will send a small group of experts for an informal presence on election day to interview political actors and voters. Learn more »
During Egypt's January 2011 revolution, human rights researcher and blogger Fatma Emam demonstrated for change in Tahrir Square day after day with thousands of other men and women. Post-revolution though, she found women's rights left behind.
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The Carter Center and BASF continue to work together to make medical history in Africa. The latest donation of nearly 6,000 liters of the BASF larvicide ABATE® will be used to combat Guinea worm and river blindness, two neglected tropical diseases that prey on some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities. Learn more »
Only a few years ago, Chiscop was working as a deputy chief editor for the social issues section of Iasi Daily Newspaper, a major newspaper in a cultural and academic hub in eastern Romania. Learn more »
The Carter Center is encouraging less partisan and more professional media reporting on Venezuela's electoral process through a series of workshops ahead of the country's Oct. 7 presidential election, offering one of the few spaces where journalists from diverse media participate together in the polarized society.
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Today marks an important milestone in President Carter’s life—he has had the longest post-White House career of any president. That’s 31 years of waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope since he left office in January 1981, which the former President says has been some of the most rewarding work of his life. Learn more »
Since President Carter's groundbreaking efforts in the White House to place human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy, the goal of securing human rights for all — civil, political, social, and economic rights — has driven the Carter Center's work to advance peace and health in more than 70 nations. Learn more »
Since President Carter's groundbreaking efforts in the White House to place human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy, the goal of securing human rights for all — civil, political, social, and economic rights — has driven the Carter Center's work to advance peace and health in more than 70 nations.
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The Carter Center’s China Program recently launched a “China in Africa” website to feature original content from African contributors expressing their views on China’s impact in their respective communities. The project aims to bridge the gap of understanding between Chinese decision-makers and African communities about China’s impact on the African continent. <p>China Program Director Yawei Liu explains the project.…</p> Learn more »
For residents of Bor Town, Grand Bassa County, Liberia, a trip to the nearest magistrate's office to solve a dispute isn't just an expense that many in this subsistence-farming community cannot afford; it is also a major trip — eight hours walking by footpath, one way.
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An additional air date has been added across the U.S. for “Foul Water Fiery Serpent,” an independent documentary feature film that follows dedicated health workers — including Carter Center staff and national health partners, as well as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter — engaged in a final battle to eradicate Guinea worm disease in Africa. Learn more »
With fewer than 1,100 worldwide cases of Guinea worm disease reported in 2011, and fewer than 600 cases expected during 2012, experts believe the quarter-century-long eradication campaign, led by The Carter Center, is at a crucial tipping point.
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The Carter Center is pioneering new technology that allows observations from polling stations across a country to be transmitted to headquarters immediately, allowing a richer picture of an election to emerge in real time – key to being able to determine quicker if an election is credible. Learn more »
Under the leadership of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, the Carter Center's Mental Health Program has increased awareness about mental health issues, informed public policy, and reduced stigma and discrimination against those with mental illnesses.
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In June, Egyptians chose the first democratically elected president in the country's history, and despite the challenging circumstances of the process, many voters still felt the moment's importance.
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By Amy Patterson, assistant director, Malaria Control Program
At the invitation of the Nigerian government, The Carter Center began health program work in Nigeria in 1988. In 2010, the largest long-lasting insecticidal net distribution effort in history to fight malaria was launched in Nigeria, which bears more deaths from this disease than any other country. Learn more »
A limited Carter Center mission witnessed the June 16-17 runoff election for Egypt's president, with 90 witnesses from 36 countries deployed to follow polling, counting, and those parts of the tabulation processes to which the Center had access. Learn more »
In the White House, President Jimmy Carter appointed 57 minority judges and 41 female judges to the federal judiciary, more than all previous presidents combined. But he recognized at the time that, when it came to diversifying judicial appointments, his efforts were “just a beginning.” Learn more »
If you ask Margaret Ballah to describe a typical day at work, she will tell you that there is no such thing. Every day Ballah rises at dawn, dons her crisp white uniform and shiny mental health clinician badge and walks several miles to Gbarzon Health Center in rural Grand Gedeh County, southeastern Liberia.
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Legendary eradication expert Dr. Donald R. Hopkins received the prestigious Pumphandle Award June 3 from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), honoring his outstanding contributions to applied epidemiology. Learn more »
A chain of 1,000 origami paper cranes, each painstakingly created by members of the Carter Center’s fall 2011 intern class, was recently hung in the Children’s Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, Japan, in honor of President and Mrs. Carter. Learn more »
Voting began Wednesday in Egypt, where more than 50 million registered voters may choose the first genuinely democratically elected president in the country’s history. In the Al-Sayeda Zeinab and Al-Sayeda Aisha neighborhoods of Cairo, hundreds of people lined up outside polling stations ahead of poll opening at 8 a.m. Learn more »
The Carter Center has deployed 22 international election witnesses to Egypt's upcoming May 23-24 presidential elections and will send a larger delegation of 80 witnesses from over 35 nations several days before the election, led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Many of the Center's witnesses have been with The Carter Center in Egypt since November 2011 and have witnessed the lower and upper house parliamentary elections too.
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Ask about the time he nearly died from cerebral malaria during a Guinea worm surveillance trip, or his supervisory visit to a town under siege, or the nights he spent stuck in a car with no food, little water, and once with three flat tires, and Dr. Nabil Aziz Mikhail will tell you he doesn't like to sit in his office
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The Republic of Sudan has won a long-fought battle against river blindness in Abu Hamad, the most isolated focus area in the world. That the government, with help from The Carter Center and partners, has stopped transmission of this debilitating disease in a remote community of more than 100,000 is an inspiring health success for Sudan, for Africa, and for the world. Learn more »
The Carter Center’s work to improve access to mental health care in Liberia is highlighted as one of 14 nonprofit recipients of a new foundation, Focusing Philanthropy, which seeks to connect potential donors across the United States with charities demonstrating strong achievements and excellent fiscal management. Learn more »
U.S. President Barack Obama Names Dr. William Foege National Medal of Freedom Recipient Learn more »
In view of the pace of change in political events taking place in the Middle East and North Africa, it’s not surprising that the context of an interview completed on April 6 would already be slightly outdated just weeks later. Learn more »
Use becomes more rare as Center, partners make major strides against the disease. The wishbone-like tweezers, folded from pieces of tin cans, look like a charm or pendant, but have a gruesome purpose. Learn more »
he Carter Center has become a global leader in the eradication and elimination of diseases, focusing efforts to build health and hope in some of the poorest and most isolated places on earth.
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The Carter Center's peace programs have retained a presence in South Sudan after observing the 2011 referendum on independence in the hopes of contributing to a lasting peace and the establishment of strong democratic foundations.
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Zerihun Tadesse Gebrelassie barely remembers his mother rushing his baby brother to a hospital in Ethiopia. Many patients, long lines, and few health workers made her wish she had a relative — maybe one who was a nurse — who could help her son. His little brother survived, but Dr. Zerihun says his mother never forgot that scene.
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“Foul Water Fiery Serpent,” a documentary feature film that follows dedicated health workers — including Carter Center staff and national health partners, as well as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter — engaged in a final battle to eradicate Guinea worm disease in Africa, will air on American Public Television stations nationwide beginning April. Learn more »
For health workers in Mexico and Guatemala, the start of the new year meant major change. Thanks to the efforts of the Carter Center-sponsored Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA), the two Latin American countries have interrupted transmission of river blindness (onchocerciasis) nationwide. Learn more »
By Paige Rohe, assistant director, Carter Center Communications Department
On a cold December afternoon in 2011, the picture of a smiling teenage girl illuminated the darkened Ivan Allen Pavilion at The Carter Center. Her name was Sarah Crider. More than five years ago, at the age of 14, Sarah died from a preventable complication during treatment at a state-run psychiatric hospital in Atlanta. Learn more »
During 2012, The Carter Center celebrates three decades of waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope. This is the first in a series of anniversary features highlighting the Center's global impact since its founding.
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Completely eliminating a disease from a country twice the size of Texas is no easy task. Salissou Kane, the Carter Center's country representative for Niger learned this time and again during more than two decades fighting Guinea worm in his homeland. Now that the disease has been wiped out nationwide, Kane is using his hard-won knowledge of Niger's complex multicultural communities to tackle to the bacterial eye disease trachoma.
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By Deborah Hakes, assistant director, Carter Center Office of Public Information
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter joined a 40-member Carter Center delegation to witness the third phase of Egypt’s parliamentary elections Jan. 10-11. The delegation, deployed in Egypt since mid-November for the three-phase election, represents 21 countries. Learn more »
On a warm spring day in the state of Chiapas, villagers in the small hamlet of Jose Maria de Morelos walk uphill on the town's only paved road to reach a small complex of school buildings. But today is not a school day; today, the river blindness elimination brigade is meeting at the school.
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Read firsthand accounts from two of the Center's witnesses in Egypt - Nedra Cherif and Matt Hall - who were deployed to Alexandria and Fayoum governorates during the first round of voting.
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The Carter Center works in some of the world’s most remote and impoverished communities. These are areas beyond where the road ends, with no power grid, and limited access to outside markets. Learn more »
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