Dr. Thomas H. Bornemann, director of the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program, answers questions on the importance of the 30th Annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, progress made over the past three decades, and challenges that lie ahead. Learn more »
Peace Habomugisha has an office in Kampala, Uganda, but it's usually empty. As the Carter Center's representative in Uganda, Habomugisha typically can be found out in the field, keeping the river blindness program on track. She makes sure health workers are distributing medication in the right doses at the right times and health education is being delivered effectively.
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By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer
Long before I joined The Carter Center as its chief executive officer in August, I knew of its amazing work as an action-oriented nongovernmental organization improving the lives of people worldwide. It is a great honor to join this mission-driven group that pursues with such vigor and effectiveness the vision of President and Mrs. Carter for peace and global human rights. Learn more »
When Tunisians took to the polls on Sunday, Nov. 23, to elect a president of their choice in a genuine democratic election, a Carter Center team of 85 were on hand to observe the election process and report on its fairness. Learn more »
On Nov. 5, 2014, in partnership with The Elders, The Carter Center produced a live webcast of the Conversations event “Building a Lasting Peace: Where are the Women?” Learn more »
On Sunday, Nov. 23, Tunisians will do something they've never done before: go to the polls to elect the president of their choice in a genuine democratic election.
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Seattle Times columnist Jonathan Martin began his Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism in September 2013 and planned to cover the Affordable Care Act. He was one of six U.S. and four international journalists selected for the annual program.
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By Dr. John Stremlau, vice president, peace programs.
Last week, I was in Mozambique to observe the country’s fifth national election since the end of a bitter civil war that raged for 15 years following the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975. The election was mostly peaceful and far more competitive, transparent, and inclusive than earlier ones we observed. Learn more »
By Amy Standen, 2013-2014 recipient, Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism
On Oct. 10, through a partnership between The Carter Center and PsychCentral.com, dozens of bloggers will participate in the fourth annual blog party, publishing their thoughts about mental health in observance of World Mental Health Day. Learn more »
It is difficult to reconcile Abdullahi Rabiu with the world record he is believed to hold. An athletic feat or sportsman's event seems likely. But could this incredibly fit, healthy, energetic Nigerian really be the man known for having the most Guinea worms emerge from his body at one time? No one else is lining up to lay claim to his title or number: 84.
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Watch former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s video message from the Social Good Summit in New York City on Sept. 21, 2014. Learn more »
Thanks to an in-kind donation, The Carter Center has published a new mobile application, "Guinea Worm: Countdown to Zero," which allows users to track the progress of the Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program. The free Android app, developed by Big Nerd Ranch, features news and information, ways to get involved, and photographs from the field. But most important, the app allows users to count down the remaining number of cases of Guinea worm disease left in the world.
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By Dr. Frank Richards, director, River Blindness Elimination Program.
Dr. Frank Richards leads the Carter Center’s efforts to eliminate river blindness (also known as onchocerciasis), a parasitic disease transmitted by the bites of infected black flies. On Aug. 12, 2014, The Carter Center held a special ceremony in northern Uganda to celebrate the distribution of the 200 millionth Mectizan® drug treatment, used to eliminate river blindness, supported by The Carter Center worldwide. The following is based on Dr. Richards’ speech at the event. Learn more »
By Dr. John Hardman, chief executive officer.
In September, I will step down as president and CEO of The Carter Center after more than 20 tremendously fulfilling years. I have been awed, inspired, and challenged by the way founders Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have used their influence to make a difference in the world. Learn more »
By Jay Beck, coordinator, Carter Center Weekend.
This year, we moved our annual Carter Weekend fundraiser from February to late June where we gathered amid the majestic mountains of Vail, Colorado, for a weekend of shared laughs and adventures, culminating in an auction to benefit the Center’s work to advance peace and health worldwide. Learn more »
The Carter Center's pioneering efforts to eradicate Guinea worm disease in South Sudan are featured in the documentary "Lifelines: How to Slay a Dragon," which was broadcast outside the United States on Al Jazeera English.
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By Mulat Zerihun Lemu, regional manager, Carter Center trachoma and malaria control projects in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.
I learned how great a need there was for eye services in my community during the 10 years I spent working for the Ethiopian government as an ophthalmic expert. Ethiopia has one of the highest rates of blindness in the world, and trachoma is a major cause of this disability in my country. Learn more »
The Carter Center thanks CAF – Development Bank of Latin America – for renewing its support of our Americas Program work to strengthen peace, dialogue, democracy, and human rights in the Western Hemisphere.
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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will provide remarks at an exhibit of Chinese paintings to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the normalization of U.S.-China relations on Thursday, July 17, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Center’s Cecil B. Day Chapel. The exhibit is co-sponsored by The Carter Center and the Chinese Artists Association, which is China’s premier art institution with 6,000 members. Learn more »
As a young Kenyan nurse, posted over ten years ago to a remote mission hospital in war-torn southern Sudan, Antonella Lomong'o was horrified by her first encounter with Guinea worm disease. "I saw this woman come crawling across the floor, crying out in pain," Lomong'o remembered. "She had several worms hanging off her leg, and I was shocked. I'd never seen this before."
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Tara Brant spent four-and-a-half years working in South Sudan on the front lines of the war on Guinea worm disease. She was a technical assistant and regional coordinator charged with ensuring each case of Guinea worm in her area was contained, educating communities on how to prevent the disease, and tracking down real and rumored outbreaks. She served in South Sudan from 2007 to 2009 and 2011 to 2013. She is currently a graduate student in Liverpool, England. Learn more »
“Today, let us renew our resolve to ensure that 2014 is the last year the world reports cases of Guinea worm disease.” – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Learn more »
By Paige Rohe, assistant director, Health Programs.
It may be tempting to hear about a neglected disease like trachoma and the 390 million people globally at risk and think of trachoma only as another sad statistic in a world where there is too much suffering and where there are not enough solutions. Yet, while trachoma is a disease of poverty, it also was once much more prolific than many people know. Until only a few decades ago, trachoma was endemic to the United States and my home state of Georgia. Learn more »
A leader in the eradication and elimination of diseases, The Carter Center is fighting six preventable diseases — Guinea worm, river blindness, trachoma, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, and malaria — by using health education and simple, low-cost methods.
The following slideshow illustrates some of the fundamental tools and approaches used by The Carter Center to help build a healthier and more peaceful world.
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Mahendra Gwacha stood with pride as he listened to his supervisor's instructions at the Bagh Bhairab Temple in Kirtipur, Nepal, and then he and his fellow temporary police officers, or myadi prahari, got to work carrying tables and chairs from a nearby elementary school to transform the 900-year-old holy site to a polling place for the next day's constituent assembly election.
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By Dr. Jennifer McCoy, director, Americas Program.
Panama’s elections were full of contradictions and tensions. Defying the polls, the winning candidate, Juan Carlos Varela, was the sitting vice president estranged from the president and running in opposition. With the possibility of the governing party continuing in office for the first time since the ouster of Manuel Noriega in 1990, fears of a growing concentration of power contributed to Panamanians rejecting the party that had led the highest economic growth rates in the hemisphere and a president with over 60 percent approval ratings. Learn more »
Ethiopia's pioneering efforts to eliminate blinding trachoma, in partnership with The Carter Center, Lions Clubs International Foundation, and others, are featured in the documentary series "Lifelines: The Quest for Global Health," which will be broadcast outside the United States on Al Jazeera English. The series also will highlight the Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program in South Sudan and the River Blindness Elimination Program in Uganda. Learn more »
The Carter Center’s community justice advisors (CJAs) are bringing free legal services – and awareness of how the law should work – to urban slums in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. Learn more »
Former President Jimmy Carter appeared on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” on March 25 to discuss his new book, “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power.” Learn more »
The suffering of women and girls can be alleviated when individuals take forceful actions, which can impact larger society, asserts President Carter in his new book “A Call to Action.” Political and religious leaders share a special responsibility, but the fact is that all of us can act within our own spheres of influence to meet these challenges. Learn more »
"A Call to Action," a new book by President Carter available March 25 (Simon & Schuster), urges the end of discrimination and abuse against women, calling it the number one challenge in the world today.
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By Stephanie Palmer, assistant director, Trachoma Control Program
Flies buzzed in our faces as Fatahou Ibrahim, a Nigerien public health student, and I interviewed Assana*, a young woman with the eye disease trichiasis, and her mother, Habiba, sitting on colorful plastic mats beneath a tree. Assana, in her early 20s, said that trichiasis felt as though “someone stuck a needle in my eye, as if someone hit me.” Learn more »
Uganda's pioneering efforts to eliminate river blindness, in partnership with The Carter Center, is featured in an eight-part documentary series, ''Lifelines: The Quest for Global Health,'' slated to air outside the United States on Al Jazeera English starting in April 2014.
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Chris McNaboe knows his Syrian opposition armed groups. For the current conflict, he can tell you exactly when a particular brigade formed from previously separate battalions around Aleppo, Syria; how many people are in the brigade; their reason for forming; and what weapons they have. The primary source for this top-level insider info? Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Learn more »
Two horrific diseases in Nigeria — malaria and lymphatic filariasis (LF) — are being targeted for elimination through a new effort to combine prevention activities, which are detailed in a set of co-implementation guidelines issued on February 18, 2014, by the Federal Ministry of Health with support from The Carter Center.
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A former political prisoner, Dr. Siwakoti now is one of Nepal's most prominent human rights advocates. His passion for human rights stems from his personal knowledge of what happens when a country lacks democracy and an open society.
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By Benedict Dossen, administrator, Liberia Mental Health Program.
Liberia is a West African country nearly the size of Mississippi with a population of 3.8 million. But unlike many other countries, Liberia only has one practicing psychiatrist. The need for mental health services becomes even more pressing in the context of the nation’s recovery from a brutal civil war spanning from the early 1990s through 2003. Learn more »
By Dr. John Hardman, chief executive officer.
The Carter Center is pioneering the use of today’s newest technologies in our efforts to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope in the most isolated and inaccessible places on earth. As a result, we are helping people improve their lives more efficiently and cost-effectively than ever before. Learn more »
At the Carter Center's field office in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, a busy scientific laboratory is devoted to a single cause: the surveillance, and ultimate elimination, of river blindness.
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By Dr. John Stremlau, vice president, peace programs.
The Carter Center was pleased to partner with the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa for a joint election observation mission to Madagascar’s Dec. 20 legislative and second-round presidential elections. Former Mauritius President Cassam Uteem, EISA Executive Director Dr. Denis Kadima, and I co-led the delegation. Learn more »
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