International Task Force for Disease Eradication – In The News

Aug. 17, 2012
Meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, April 2012 (PDF)
This article was published in the Aug. 17, 2012, edition of the World Health Organization's Weekly Epidemiological Record. It is reprinted with permission.
The 19th Meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication (ITFDE) was convened at the Carter Center, Atlanta, Ga. (United States), on April 12, 2012, to discuss the potential eradicability of schistosomiasis.

April 19, 2012
Mosquito-borne Diseases Under Attack in Haiti, Dominican Republic
Published April 19, 2012, in the Emory Report.
Efforts to eliminate two mosquito-borne diseases – malaria and lymphatic filariasis – in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are ongoing, with the first of four meetings on the issue this year held in Santo Domingo in March.

29 de marzo 2012
RD y Haití evalúan acciones contra malaria y filariasis linfática
Los ministerios de Salud de la República Dominicana y Haití iniciaron hoy una reunión de dos días para pasar balance a la ejecución del plan común para la erradicación de la malaria y la filariasis linfática en la Isla la Española, que comparten ambos países, informaron fuentes locales.

Aug. 5, 2011
Meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, April 2011/Réunion du Groupe spécial international pour l'éradication des maladies, avril 2011 (PDF)
Published in the Aug. 5, 2011 issue of the World Health Organization's Weekly Epidemiological Record.
The 18th meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication was convened at the Carter Center, Atlanta, GA, United States, on 6 April 2011, to discuss the control and possible elimination of onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis in Africa.

May 14, 2010
Elimination Meets Reality in Hispaniola (PDF)
This article was published May 14, 2010, by Science magazine.
There is absolutely no reason for malaria to persist on the island of Hispaniola, says Donald Hopkins, longtime disease fi ghter and vice president for health programs at the Carter Center in Atlanta. All the other islands in the Caribbean have rid themselves of this mosquito-borne disease. And the Dominican Republic (D.R.), which shares the island with Haiti, has driven cases to remarkably low levels. Related: Watch the video – Two Countries, Two Diseases, One Island >

May 14, 2010
Shrinking the Malaria Map From the Outside In (PDF)
This article was published May 14, 2010, by Science magazine.
Richard Feachem wants to "shrink the malaria map." By that, he and his Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), mean wiping out malaria at its "natural margins"—those countries on the edge of malaria transmission where the disease has just a tentative foothold—and working inward. It's going for the "low-hanging fruit," he says. "It's a no-brainer."

March 30, 2010
A Project for Haiti: The Eradication of Two Diseases
This letter to the editor of the New York Times by Carter Center Vice President for Health Programs Dr. Donald R. Hopkins was published March 30, 2010, in response to the March 28, 2010 editorial "Making Haiti Whole."
Two projects that the donors conference on Haiti should consider this week are the binational plan that Haiti and the Dominican Republic announced last October to eliminate malaria by 2020, and the plan that Haiti announced simultaneously to eliminate lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) by 2020 (the Dominican Republic expects to eliminate lymphatic filariasis this year).

March 19, 2010
Weekly Epidemiological Record/Releve Epidemiologique Hebdomadaire, No. 12, 2010, 85, 109–116 (PDF)
Meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, January 2010/Réunion du Groupe spécial international pour l'éradication des maladies, janvier 2010.

Feb. 12, 2010
Weekly Epidemiological Record/Releve Epidemiologique Hebdomadaire, No. 7, 2010, 85, 49–56 (PDF)
Meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, October 2009/Réunion du Groupe spécial international pour l'éradication des maladies, octobre 2009.

Jan. 5, 2010
Haiti, Dominican Republic Combine Efforts to Eradicate Malaria
World Focus video report on the fight against malaria in Hispaniola: a new cooperative effort between the two countries and U.S. President Jimmy Carter to eradicate the disease. Distributed to PBS stations nationwide.

Dec. 9, 2009
Carter Center Works to Eradicate Malaria in Haiti, Dominican Republic
This article was published Dec. 9, 2009, by Voice of America.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the last two countries in the Caribbean region with known cases of malaria, and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says he hopes to see an eventual eradication of the disease in both countries.  VOA spoke recently with the former president and to members of his Carter Center staff in Atlanta, Georgia about their efforts to curb the mosquito-borne illness.

Nov. 19, 2009
Q&A: Jimmy Carter on Eliminating Malaria
Published in the Nov. 19, 2009, issue of Vanity Fair.
As President Obama and Congress work to overhaul American health care, Jimmy Carter is continuing his quest to fight diseases in some of the most neglected regions of the globe. Carter turned 85 in October; to celebrate, he flew to Hispaniola with his wife, Rosalynn, to check in on the Carter Center's efforts to eliminate malaria in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Oct. 26,  2009
President Carter Calls for Partnership in Hispaniola (PDF)
Published in the  Oct. 26, 2009, edition of Global Health Magazine.
In 2006, the International Task Force on Disease Eradication determined that elimination of malaria in Hispaniola is technically possible. While there was desire in the Dominican Republic and Haiti to move forward on a bi-national scale, help from the international community was needed to launch the project.  The Carter Center offered its support and in 2008 provided $200,000 in seed money for a pilot project to support bi-national work to eliminate malaria and, to a lesser extent, lymphatic filariasis on Hispaniola.

Oct. 9, 2009
Haïti-Rép. Dominicaine: Carter applaudit la bonne disposition des deux pays à lutter contre la malaria et la filariose
Published by Alter Presse, Oct. 9, 2009.
L'ex président américain James Carter a salué la bonne disposition manifestée par les autorités haïtiennes et dominicaines vis-à-vis de la lutte conjointe qu'ils devront mener contre la malaria et la filariose durant les 10 prochaines années.

Oct. 8, 2009
Hispaniola Leaders Aim to Eradicate Malaria
Associated Press
The leaders of Haiti and the Dominican Republic agreed Thursday to cooperate in a campaign aimed at eradicating the last vestiges of malaria from the islands of the Caribbean by 2020.

8 de Octubre 2009
Carter promueve un plan contra malaria
Este artículo fue publicado el 8 de octubre 2009 por listindario.com.
El ex presidente de Estados Unidos, Jimmy Carter, supervisó ayer el programa de erradicación de la malaria y la filariasis linfática que financia el Centro Carter en  Dajabón y el municipio haitiano de Ouanaminthe.

Oct. 7, 2009
Carter Seeks To Boost Caribbean Malaria Fight: Ex-President Carter Seeks To Boost Campaign To Rid Hispaniola Of Malaria
(AP Article – Posted online by multiple media outlets, including CBS news)
Jovind Fritzner is well-know in this border town, where the ditches lining the dirt roads collect stagnant water perfect for malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Dec. 16, 2008
Haiti and Dominican Republic Urged to Fight Mosquito Illnesses Together
Published in the Dec. 16, 2008, edition of the New York Times.
The Carter Center has called for a joint effort to eliminate two mosquito-borne diseases, malaria and lymphatic filariasis, from their last foothold in the Caribbean: the island of Hispaniola.

Nov. 28, 2008
Weekly epidemiological record/Releve epidemiologique hebdomadaire, No. 48, 2008, 83, 429–440 (PDF)
Meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, May 2008/Réunion du Groupe spécial international pour l'éradication des maladies, mai 2008.

Jan. 26, 2007
Weekly epidemiological record/Releve epidemiologique hebdomadaireNo. 4, 207, 82, 25-32 (PDF)
Meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication - 12 May 2006/Reunion du Groupe special international pour l'eradication des maladies - 12 mai 2006.

March 20, 2006
New York Times Feature Article:  To Conquer, or Control?  Disease Strategy Debated (PDF)
A New York Times overview on disease eradication, written by Donald G. McNeil Jr. and Ceila W. Dugger.