A Year After President Carter’s Passing, The Carter Center Continues to Advance His Vision of Peace, Health, and Human Rights

ATLANTA (Dec. 18, 2025) — Nearly one year after the death of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Dec. 29, 2024, the values that he and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter championed continue to drive the work of The Carter Center and its staff around the world.

Since the Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982, the organization has worked in more than 90 countries to resolve conflicts, advance freedom and democracy, protect human rights, prevent disease, and improve mental health. At the core of The Center’s work is President and Mrs. Carter’s belief in preventing human suffering and equipping people with the knowledge and tools they need to improve their own lives.

“As I reflect on the first year without our beloved founders, I am struck by how much has changed in the world in such a short time,” said Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center. “President Carter often quoted his childhood teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, when confronting challenges: ‘We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.’ Never has this idea carried so much weight. The Carter Center has spent this year adjusting to meet the moment, while continuing to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope around the world. As we enter 2026, President and Mrs. Carter’s values will continue to guide us, and their legacy will continue to inspire people around the world.”

Despite losing 11% of the fiscal 2025 budget due to the elimination of U.S. government funding, The Carter Center was able to maintain programming promoting human rights in the U.S. and overseas. In 2025, The Carter Center:

• Strengthened democracy, peace-building, and human rights globally – including conflict resolution in Sudan and Israel-Palestine, fighting for the rights of mining communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and observing elections in Guyana.
• Expanded our work to protect democracy in the United States, including observing elections and combating polarization and political violence in key states.
• Made significant progress to eliminate neglected tropical diseases, including:
  • Moved ever closer toward eradication of Guinea worm disease, with just 15 human cases reported worldwide in 2024, continuing dramatic reductions from 3.5 million cases in 1986 when our work began (a 99.99% decrease). The story of the decades-long fight to eradicate Guinea worm was featured in a documentary released in October, “The President and The Dragon.”
  • Distributed approximately 28.2 million treatments to eliminate river blindness in six countries, helping reduce transmission and protect tens of millions of people at risk.
  • Provided surgical treatment and antibiotic distribution to thousands of individuals in Ethiopia and South Sudan to control trachoma and mobilized our networks to allow for the safe and timely delivery of medication when distribution systems collapsed.
• Advanced mental health parity in the United States and expanded mental health programs in Africa. In June, The Carter Center merged with the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, combining this important work with our mental health programs.
• Overall, provided $160 million in peace and health support to millions of people around the world, including in the United States.

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Contact: media@cartercenter.org