Pakistan

Despite advances in technology, lack of access to health care has long been a challenge in Pakistan. With support from critical partners, The Carter Center worked in the 1980s and 1990s to stem disease transmission and save the lives of babies and mothers. Currently, we partner with the city of Karachi as part of our groundbreaking Inform Women, Transform Lives campaign.

Impact

Partnered with the city of Karachi to empower women through access to information.
Collaborated with government and local health professionals in the 1980s to reduce the incidence of neonatal tetanus and improve overall maternal and infant care.
Stopped Guinea worm transmission in 1993, becoming the first country under the Center’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program to do so.

Active

Empowerment through Information

Through its groundbreaking Inform Women, Transform Lives campaign, The Carter Center partners with city leaders worldwide to raise awareness about women’s right to access information and to help cities reach women with valuable information and essential municipal services.

Access to this information empowers women with a stronger voice, enabling them to participate in public life, utilize public services, and make more informed decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities. In 2025, this project expanded to collaborate with the city of Karachi, Pakistan.

Legacy

Maternal Health

The Carter Center and an independent partner, the Task Force for Child Survival and Development, began working in the 1980s to reduce the incidence of neonatal tetanus, a primary cause of infant death in Pakistan.

Our Work and Methods

We worked with local government and health professionals to improve the knowledge and practices of midwives, who are on the frontlines of maternal and infant care.
We also worked to improve collaboration among local ministries of health and traditional midwives.

Impacts

Midwives are better equipped to use antiseptic delivery methods — including sterile surgical instruments and proper handwashing — and to refer pregnant women and mothers at risk of neonatal tetanus for immunizations.
Local ministries of health and traditional midwives work together to provide better health care.

Legacy

Guinea Worm Disease

Current Status: Transmission stopped, 1993
Certification of Dracunculiasis Elimination: 1997

In 1986, at the personal urging of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Pakistan became one of the first nations to participate in the Guinea Worm Eradication Program.

Our Work and Methods

Volunteer community health workers — recruited and trained to detect, record, and report cases of Guinea worm — distributed nylon water filters and conducted health education on how to use them properly.

In areas where drinking water was easily contaminated by residents infected with Guinea worm, the Center created a national registry of potential cases that could be investigated promptly, along with a cash reward system to encourage people to report risks and follow case containment procedures.

Impacts

With support from the Center and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pakistan stopped the transmission of Guinea worm disease in 1993.
The World Health Organization certified Pakistan free of Guinea worm disease in 1997.

This project ended in 1993.