Carter Center Blog

Carter Center experts offer unique and candid insights into their work and the issues that affect it. 

Blog | From the CEO: Chadians Proud of Guinea Worm Efforts

I recently returned from a visit to the nation of Chad, the central point of our fight against Guinea worm disease. As you may know, The Carter Center has been working to eradicate this devasting parasitic disease since 1986, when cases around the world numbered almost 3.5 million a year. Learn more »

Blog | Jason Carter and Family Visit Zambia to Learn More about the Center’s Work on Inclusive Democracy and Climate Change

By Jason Carter, chair of the Carter Center Board of Trustees

I made my first visit to Zambia, where our goal was to learn more about the Carter Center’s ongoing democracy programming that helps women, youth, and persons with disabilities overcome barriers to getting involved in political affairs and to travel into the Zambian countryside, where the Center is piloting a project to help rural communities address the effects of climate change. Learn more »

Visit to Plains Opens Interns’ Eyes to Carter Legacy

By Olivia Starks, Carter Center communications intern

During each internship session at The Carter Center, the interns take a day trip to former President Jimmy Carter’s hometown of Plains, Georgia. This is a staple of the internship program, as the visit is discussed on the first day of orientation. We are told stories about the delicious peanut butter ice cream and the fun downtown shops that await us. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Changing Times, Unchanging Principles

By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center

The announcement in February that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the Carter Center’s co-founder, was entering hospice care touched my heart. It prompted reflections on how the Center has grown and evolved while remaining true to our founders’ original vision. Learn more »

Blog | Thank You, Mrs. Carter, for Sharing Your Story

By Eve Byrd, Director, Mental Health Program

It is human nature to want to be understood and accepted, so when people like Rosalynn Carter and her family share their experiences with dementia, they provide a comforting connection to the more than 55 million people worldwide who have dementia diagnoses. Learn more »

Honoring the Unsung Heroes of Democracy

Written by Jennifer Roberts, North Carolina Democracy Resilience Network

Many thanks to the League of Women Voters of North Carolina for recognizing the work of the bipartisan N.C. Trusted Elections Tour, organized by myself and Bob Orr and funded by The Carter Center. Our close partnership with the League of Women Voters in this endeavor guaranteed its success and helped pave the way for safe, secure, and peaceful elections in our state in 2022. Learn more »

President Jimmy Carter, My Hero and Strength

By Makoy Samuel Yibi, Director, Guinea Worm Eradication Program, South Sudan Ministry of Health

Makoy Samuel Yibi first met former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 1995, after which they formed a strong relationship. In 2008, Yibi received the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Guinea Worm Eradication for his leadership in reducing cases of the disease in what is now South Sudan. He wrote the following elegy for his mentor and hero. Learn more »

Peer-to-Peer Counseling Aids Women in Myanmar

By Masa Janjusevic, Carter Center country representative, Myanmar

Myanmar is home to the world’s longest continuing civil war, spanning seven decades. The inevitable toll on mental health cannot be ignored, and recent events such as COVID-19 and economic decline have only intensified the unmet need for services. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Health and Peace Programs Team Up to Support Election Workers

By Eve Byrd, Director, Mental Health Program

From the vantage point of a richly resourced and powerful country or society, it’s easy to believe that colonialism is a thing of the past. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The sad fact is that the effects of a colonial mind-set are alive and well in some corners of the global health community. Learn more »

Q&A: Explaining Logic and Accuracy Testing in Arizona’s Midterm Recount

Last week, logic and accuracy testing of tabulation or counting equipment took place in all 15 Arizona counties ahead of the court-mandated recount of races for attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, and state representative of Legislative District 13 in Maricopa County. Learn more »

Russian Disinformation Profits from Changing Social Media Landscape

By Michael Scholtens, data analyst, Democracy Program

The turmoil at Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover has shaken the foundation of the global social media landscape. As one of social media’s pillars veers toward possible collapse, some of its users and content are scattering across the internet. It’s too soon to say whether Twitter will be unseated as one of the giants of social media, but users are searching for alternatives at a higher rate than at any point since the platform’s founding.   Learn more »

Blog | We’re 40 and Looking Forward

By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center

This fall has been an exciting time at The Carter Center. We celebrated the anniversary of our founding 40 years ago, President Carter celebrated his 98th birthday, and we dedicated a 200-year-old Japanese bell on our campus. Learn more »

Blog | Colonialism Has No Place in Global Health

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President, Health Programs, The Carter Center; Kelly Callahan, M.P.H., Director, Trachoma Control Program, The Carter Center; Dr. Emmanuel Miri, Nigeria Country Representative, The Carter Center; Dr. Zerihun Tadesse, Ethiopia Country Representative, The Carter Center

From the vantage point of a richly resourced and powerful country or society, it’s easy to believe that colonialism is a thing of the past. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The sad fact is that the effects of a colonial mind-set are alive and well in some corners of the global health community. Learn more »

As World Sight Day Nears, River Blindness is Fading

By Gregory S. Noland, director, River Blindness Elimination Program, and Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, health programs, The Carter Center

World Sight Day is the second Thursday in October, and we at The Carter Center and our country offices are doing our part to preserve vision in vulnerable populations through our robust river blindness and trachoma programs. Learn more »

Blog | Abu Dhabi Summit Energizes Guinea Worm Campaign

By Adam Weiss, Director, Guinea Worm Eradication Program

Some of the hallmarks of the four-decade Guinea worm eradication campaign, led by The Carter Center, are its agility, data-driven decision making, deep-rooted partnerships, and commitment to prioritize the needs of the endemic countries. Learn more »

Blog | Equitable Dinners Foster Real Conversations on Racial Equity

By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center

On September, 18, The Carter Center was honored to host one of Atlanta’s Equitable Dinners, a public event designed to inspire anti-racist action through art and courageous conversations. Events across the city brought together 5,000 guests of all backgrounds to sit at 500 tables to discuss racial equity. Learn more »

Blog | Trachoma Teams Persevere Despite Adversity

By Kelly Callahan, director, Trachoma Control Program

Public health work is always challenging, but some seasons are more challenging than others. And wow, have the last three years been challenging — especially in the part of Ethiopia where the Carter Center’s Trachoma Control Program works. Learn more »

Blog | Strong Partnerships Can Change the World

By Nicole Kruse, Interim Vice President of Development

A family reunion of sorts took place last month in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was the annual Carter Center Weekend, when a limited number of friends and supporters gather to catch up with each other, hear from Center leadership and staff, and take part in various fun activities, including silent and live auctions. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Pursues Mali Peace Agreement Action

By Jason Carter, chair of the Carter Center Board of Trustees

Jason Carter met with Col. Assimi Goïta to discuss actions taken toward the Mali Peace Agreement created in 2015 and eradication efforts of Guinea worm disease. Learn more »

Blog | The Carter Center’s Long Standing History of Waging Peace in War-Torn Nations

By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center

We at The Carter Center are horrified by the devastation in Ukraine. As we have helped other nations to rebuild after wars, we will continue waging peace. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: We are 100% Committed to Ending Neglected Diseases

By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center

This month, I was pleased to sign the Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, signifying the Carter Center’s 100% commitment to work with dozens of countries, donors, and organizational partners to tackle these terrible diseases Learn more »

Blog | Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Complicates the Situation in Syria

Analysis by Hari Prasad, Program Associate, Conflict Resolution Program

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has had obvious effects on Ukraine and Eastern Europe, but its current and potential destabilizing effects in Syria are not receiving the attention they desperately need. Learn more »

Blog | In Memoriam: Dr. Stephen B. Blount, M.D., M.P.H.

By Paige Alexander, Chief Executive Officer, The Carter Center, and Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President-Health Programs, The Carter Center

We at The Carter Center are grieving the unexpected passing of our friend and colleague, Dr. Stephen B. Blount, who had only recently retired after a remarkable career in global public health. Learn more »

Blog | With New Law, 2022 is the Year for Mental Health in Georgia

By Eve H. Byrd, Director, Carter Center Mental Health Program

During the 2022 state legislative session, the Georgia General Assembly voted unanimously to pass the Mental Health Parity Act, ensuring that the state will enforce parity in insurance coverage for behavioral health care for the first time. Learn more »

Blog | New Report Spotlights Dangerous Unexploded Weapons in Syria

By Hampton Stall, Senior Program Associate, The Carter Center

After the Mozambique civil war ended in 1992, demining experts needed 23 years to clear the 86,000 unexploded weapons left behind. A just-released Carter Center report suggests that there could be more than three times that amount of unexploded ordnance in Syria, where demining efforts have yet to begin. Learn more »

With Sufficient Support, We Can Tame TB

By Kashef Ijaz, Vice President-Health, The Carter Center

There is nothing mysterious about tuberculosis (TB). It has been studied for a long time. We know who the vulnerable populations are, where it is prevalent, how to prevent it, and how to treat it. What is mysterious is the lack of top-tier attention and funding it gets. Learn more »

Blog | Disinformation, Propaganda, and the War in Ukraine

By Sarah E. Morris, head of instruction and engagement at the Emory University Libraries

The war in Ukraine is a terrible situation that is keeping many of us glued to our devices, looking for updates and ways to help Ukraine. Unfortunately, large amounts of misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda are swirling around, creating confusion and disruption. Learn more »

Seize the Moment and End TB with ITFDE

The 33rd meeting, held March 14-15, 2022, at The Carter Center, focused on one of the leading causes of death by an infectious disease globally, yet paradoxically does not receive adequate attention: tuberculosis (TB). The ITFDE focus on TB was particularly timely as March 24 is World TB Day, whose theme this year — Invest to End TB, Save Lives — captures the urgency of the moment. Learn more »

Blog | Russia-Ukraine Conflict Exposes Need for Digital Geneva Convention

Russia has long treated Ukraine as a proving ground for testing its novel and destructive cyberweapons. In 2015, Russia launched a cyberattack on the power grid in Ukraine, plunging 230,000 civilians into darkness and cutting off power to homes, hospitals, and schools in the dead of winter. Repairs took months to complete. Two years later, Russia launched another attack that crippled government, financial, and energy institutions, shut down nuclear safety monitoring systems, and permanently erased public and private data. The attack spilled over Ukraine’s borders, disrupting private-sector entities such as Maersk, FedEx, and Merck and costing an estimated $10 billion. Learn more »

Blog | Support Groups Nurture Hope in Haiti

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, Health Programs,

Haiti is frequently in the news for all the wrong reasons: devastating earthquakes, extreme poverty, rampant violent crime, political turmoil. The Carter Center is determined to bring Haiti hope in at least one way, in the area of public health. Learn more »

Blog | River Blindness Elimination Signals Need for Partnership and Persistence

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, Health Programs, and Gregory Noland, director, Carter Center River Blindness Elimination Program

The elimination of river blindness in Nigeria’s Plateau and Nasarawa states, as confirmed by a recent analysis, shows the value of partnership and persistence in the fight against neglected tropical diseases. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Our Practices Change; Our Principles Don’t

By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of The Carter Center

President Carter frequently reminds us of his high school teacher’s words of wisdom: “We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.” At The Carter Center, we practice this precept by holding fast to our founding commitments to defend human rights and relieve human suffering while continually seeking new and improved ways to accomplish our humanitarian goals. Learn more »

Blog | Eradication Is a Difficult, Lengthy Affair

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, health programs

Only one human disease has ever been eradicated; that was smallpox, in 1980 — a tremendous victory for humanity. The term "eradication" is defined as permanent reduction to zero of the worldwide occurrence of infection caused by a specific pathogen, with no risk of its return. Learn more »

Blog | Journalists Help Bring Discussion of Mental Health into Mainstream

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, health programs, and Eve H. Byrd, director, mental health program

Journalists and the field of journalism are often criticized, in part because they have a habit of telling us truths we don’t want to know or discussing topics we don’t want to think about. But good journalists provide a public service by telling us things we need or ought to know and by making us think. What they write or say can affect the way society looks at an issue and educate people about available resources. Learn more »

Blog | As General Assembly Gathers, Give the WHO Its Due

By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer, and Kashef Ijaz, vice president, Health Programs

The 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly opens Tuesday, Sept. 14. It is a time of great anticipation as representatives of 193 member states come together in the great hall to discuss issues and set an agenda for the coming year. World political leaders, including President Joe Biden, will give speeches that will be closely watched for clues and outright declarations regarding a wide variety of international challenges, global health among them. Learn more »

Blog | The Past, Present, and Future of U.S.-China Relations: A Bush China Foundation Conversation with President Jimmy Carter

This interview with President Carter was conducted in Spring 2020 and originally published in the Bush China Foundation’s 2019/2020 Annual Report. Learn more »

Blog | 24 Fun Facts about First Lady Rosalynn Carter

By Susan Hunsinger, program associate, and Katie Conner, former senior program associate, mental health program

Rosalynn Carter is best known for her advocacy for mental health issues, caregiver issues, as co-founder of The Carter Center and founder of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. But there’s more to this "steel magnolia." Here are 24 facts about Rosalynn Carter. Learn more »

Blog | Eradication Isn't Over Until It's Over

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, health programs

Completely wiping out a disease is nearly impossible. In all of history, only one human disease has been eradicated — smallpox, in 1980 after a herculean global vaccination campaign that took decades to complete. Polio persists (albeit in small numbers) despite the availability of a highly effective vaccine since the 1950s. Ditto measles. Learn more »

Blog | Peace and Health Go Hand in Hand. We Must Pursue Both.

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, health programs, and Barbara J. Smith, vice president, peace programs

Back in the turbulent 1960s, there was a popular poster — today it would be a meme on social media — that said, "War is not healthy for children and other living things." Learn more »

Blog | Nigeria Public Health Training Initiative Turns Reins Over to Sokoto State

The Nigeria Public Health Training Initiative recently transitioned from a Carter Center-assisted project to state-level ownership in each of the six implementing states, including Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Imo, Ogun, Plateau, and Sokoto. Alhaji Abubakar Tambuwal, provost of the College of Nursing Science, Sokoto shares some insights about the innovative project and its impact on Nigeria’s capacity to train healthcare workers. Learn more »

Blog | Journalism Fellow Invites Viewers Along on Family’s Alzheimer’s Journey

By Christie Ethridge Diez, 2020-2021 Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellow

Christie Ethridge Diez is a reporter and anchor for Atlanta TV station at 11alive (WXIA) and a 2020-2021 Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellow. In late March 2021, she shared her story of loss, grief, and strength on the Carter Center’s Instagram account after her father’s Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. Her moving posts, minimally edited, are reproduced here. All photos are courtesy of Christie Ethridge Diez. Learn more »

Blog | Partner Countries Take Ownership of Their Success

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, health programs

Following on my commentary last month regarding health care capacity building at the community level, it’s fitting now to acknowledge our government partners’ eagerness and ability to exercise ownership of programs taking place within their borders. Learn more »

Blog | Trachoma Staffers Make Exam Scopes at Home

By Vanessa Scholtens, program associate, Trachoma Control Program

How do we know if a person has trachoma, a bacterial eye disease? A trained worker must examine a person’s inner eyelid and look for the signs. Learn more »

Blog | Health Programs’ Benefits Remain Long After We’re Gone

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, health programs

The Carter Center’s neglected tropical disease programs treat and prevent Guinea worm disease, trachoma, river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, and schistosomiasis, with the goal to control, eliminate, and eradicate. Beyond the alleviation of the human suffering caused by these illnesses, this work brings ancillary benefits to communities, health systems, and infrastructure that may be just as important. Learn more »

Blog | Now Is Not the Time to Quit Fighting Neglected Tropical Diseases

By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer, and Kashef Ijaz, vice president, health programs

The world’s most vulnerable people work hard every day to overcome poverty and disease. They aren’t interested in handouts, but with a hand up they can get the resources they need to surmount obstacles to prosperity and peace. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Coronavirus Can’t Compete With the Carter Center’s Commitment

By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer

When new CEO Paige Alexander first saw the cafeteria in the Carter Center’s Atlanta office, paper shamrocks and pots of gold adorned the walls to mark St. Patrick’s Day. Only it wasn’t March. It was June 2020. Learn more »

Blog | Pandemic Proves Global Mental Health Can’t Be Ignored

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, health programs

Global mental health has been called the “silent,” “parallel,” or “next” pandemic. Learn more »

Blog | Improving Access to Mental Health Care in Georgia: How Georgians Can Get Involved

By Helen Robinson, associate director, public policy

Many Georgians face barriers to accessing mental health care. While this is not a new problem, The Carter Center believes it is urgent that state leaders address the issue during the current public health crisis. Learn more »

Blog | The Carter Center, a Global Health Pioneer for 35 years, Steps into Saporta Report Lineup

The Carter Center is honored to join The Saporta Report’s Global Health Thought Leaders rotation. For readers who may not be familiar with our work, allow us to introduce ourselves. Learn more »

Blog | Inform Women, Transform Lives Q and A with Laura Neuman

By Laura Neuman, director, Rule of Law Program

Laura Neuman, senior advisor to The Carter Center, discusses the Inform Women, Transform Lives campaign, what it’s all about, and why it matters. Learn more »

Blog | The Work Is Worth It, and It Isn't Finished

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, vice president, health programs

The observance of World Neglected Tropical Disease Day on Jan. 30 (following the public launch of the 2030 NTD Road Map by the WHO on Jan. 28) prompts me to reflect on my good fortune in overseeing the Carter Center’s tireless work to free people from an array of illnesses that cause untold misery and perpetuate the cycle of poverty. Learn more »

Blog | Youth Key in Sudan's Shift to Democracy

By Ben Spears, senior program associate, Conflict Resolution Program

This is an exciting time in Sudan. After 30 years, a period marked by civil war in Darfur and other areas of the country, Omar al-Bashir was forced from power in a revolution led largely by young women and men. Now Sudan is working out a new identity as it transitions to peace and democracy, and young people can lead the way. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Center Makes Most of New Normal

By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer, The Carter Center

I don’t need to tell you what a strange and challenging year 2020 has been. A pandemic has forced us to avoid close human interactions, but The Carter Center has been fortunate and is taking advantage of the opportunities that technology brings to keep moving forward with our mission to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope. Learn more »

Blog | Q&A: David Carroll, Director of the Democracy Program at The Carter Center

By David Carroll, director, Democracy Program

Engaging in the U.S. is more complicated than in other countries because we don’t have a centralized election administration – we have a patchwork of about 10,000 jurisdictions across 50 states. (That, by the way, is one of several areas in which the U.S. falls short of international election standards.) Learn more »

Blog | Center Aims to Mitigate Possible Election Violence in Some Communities

The Carter Center is partnering with Cure Violence Global and Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative on a project to mitigate violence that could erupt in some U.S. communities in the days before and after the November election. Learn more »

Blog | Altering Behavior Can Mean a Change for the Better

By Kelly Callahan, M.P.H., director, Trachoma Control Program

When COVID-19 appeared, the first thing public health experts advised us all to do was to wash our hands frequently and thoroughly. This is excellent advice, and it’s what the Carter Center’s Trachoma Control Program has been teaching people for 20 years. Learn more »

Blog | Expert Q&A: What’s at Stake for Mental Health Policy in Georgia?

By Helen Robinson, associate director, public policy, Mental Health Program

Under the leadership of Rosalynn Carter, the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program is joining with partner organizations to bring attention to urgent public policy issues impacting mental health in Georgia and across the United States. The Carter Center’s Helen Robinson, associate director of public policy in the Mental Health Program, answers questions about how the program works to improve access to mental health care for all Georgians. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Staying Positive, Building Hope

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer

At this time of great challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been deeply moved by the commitment of our Carter Center staff to our mission to help the world’s poorest people. Indeed, our aim to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope has never been more urgent than it is today. Learn more »

Blog | Uganda Community Goes from Misery to Joy

By Peace Habomugisha, Uganda country director

Steven Ocopcan is 77 years old, and he well remembers how river blindness affected his community in Uganda when he was a child. "At the time, people thought they had annoyed God and, in return, he cursed us," Ocopcan told me. "Many people sacrificed cows, goats, and hens to God, but this didn’t work. People accused one another of bewitching others. It was bad." Learn more »

Blog | Guinea Worm Killed My Uncles

By Daniel Deng Madit Kuchlong, health agent, South Sudan’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program

Daniel Deng Madit Kuchlong, aka Daniel Deng, is a health agent with South Sudan’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program. Here is his firsthand account, lightly edited, of how Guinea worm has affected his life. Learn more »

Blog | Courtyard Meetings Help with Benefits

By Laura Neuman, director, Rule of Law Program

Selima Begum, 28, is the mother of a 7-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. They live in Tuker Bazar Union, Sylhet Division, Bangladesh. Since her divorce, Begum has struggled to provide necessary medical care for her son, at times having to forgo routine medical treatments because of a lack of money. Though she works as a housecleaner when she can, it often does not pay enough to meet all her family’s needs. Learn more »

Blog | Making Guinea Worm Disease Gone for Good

By Abeer Al Fouti, Executive Director of Global Initiatives, Alwaleed Philanthropies

You almost certainly have never heard of Guinea worm disease. It doesn’t generate news headlines, is not often top of mind for global health experts, and does not attract large-scale funding for eradication efforts. Yet we are close to eliminating this devastating disease, with just a final effort required to make it gone for good. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Innovation Embedded in Center's Activities

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer

In 1982, President and Mrs. Carter created a new kind of post-presidential institution, not a think tank, but an organization acting to alleviate suffering and advance human rights for the world’s poorest people. Ever since, innovation has been part of the Center’s DNA. Learn more »

Blog | Standing Strong Against Attacks on Human Rights (Oct. 16, 2019) | Webcast Archive

In many parts of the world, repression is on the rise and freedom on the decline. But brave human rights defenders continue to fight for equality and fair treatment for all. Hear what participants in our Human Rights Defenders Forum have to say about the state of human rights across the globe. Learn what they’re doing to protect and promote these rights – and how you, too, can be a defender. Learn more »

Blog | A Conversation with the Carters (Sept. 17, 2019) Webcast Archive

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter discuss how the Center wages peace and fights disease to build hope for millions around the world. They also take questions from the audience. Learn more »

Blog | Where the Need for Services Goes, We Follow

By Angelia Sanders, associate director, Trachoma Control Program and vice chair, International Coalition for Trachoma Control

Natural disasters, conflict, and other factors can force entire populations to leave their homes and seek safer living conditions elsewhere. Such people are known as internally displaced persons (or IDPs) if they move within their home country or refugees if they cross international boundaries. Refugees are protected by international laws; IDPs are not. Learn more »

Blog | Four Years After Peace Accord, What Has Really Changed?

By John Goodman, associate director in the Conflict Resolution Program

The Carter Center's John Goodman, associate director in the Conflict Resolution Program, spoke recently to Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque in Bamako, Mali, about ongoing violence and instability in Mali and how the people there have seen few, if any, dividends from the peace agreement signed four years ago. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Communication Cultivates Grassroots Impact

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer

The Carter Center operates dozens of initiatives addressing a range of challenging peace and health issues. Some of them seek to end human rights abuses and promote sustainable peace, while others help improve the health of at-risk people in remote places. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Fellow Reflects on Challenging and Enriching Year

Courtenay Harris Bond is a 2017–18 Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship recipient. She is a freelance journalist and currently a Scattergood Foundation Journalist-in-Residence. Learn more »

Blog | Q&A: ISIS Down, But Not Out, in Syria

Just a few years ago, ISIS controlled giant swaths of Syria – its combined lands totaled more than 34,000 square miles, just a little less than you’ll find in the state of Indiana. Today, it has lost all that territory. But that doesn’t mean it is no longer a threat to the people of Syria. Individuals and groups with ties to ISIS continue to carry out attacks, even as the nature and number of those attacks change. Learn more »

Blog | Q&A: Seeking Better Outcomes for Mothers and Babies

Through its Public Health Training Initiatives in Nigeria and Sudan, The Carter Center helps educational institutions improve the way they prepare health workers to serve the public. In Nigeria, the initiative supports one institution in each of six states. Learn more »

Blog | Malaria Exacts a Tragic Toll

By Hunter Keys, consultant, Hispaniola Initiative

In the poor neighborhoods where malaria festers in the Dominican Republic, people describe someone who hustles through everyday life as a chiripero, a “lucky sort.” Learn more »

Blog | Preparing for March 31 Myanmar Elections

The Carter Center, with the support of UK Aid, helped prepare a range of voter education materials for the March 31 municipal elections in Yangon, Myanmar. A coalition of 10 civil society organizations, coordinated by our partner New Myanmar Foundation, is using the materials in its street campaign. These are Yangon’s first elections with universal suffrage, so many women and youth will be voting for the first time. Learn more »

Blog | WHO Director-General Expresses Support for Global Campaign to Eradicate Guinea Worm Disease

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expresses support for the global campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease and partner efforts to eliminate neglected tropical diseases. Dr. Tedros personally thanks former U.S. President Jimmy Carter for his leadership in the fight against Guinea worm and The Carter Center for being a cornerstone of the campaign. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Helping Us Move Ahead in Difficult Times

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer

The Center’s work is never easy, even in the best of times, when the world seems eager to embrace the efforts you help make possible in seeking peace, health, and hope for people in need. Learn more »

Blog | Mental Health Gains Global Focus

By Eve Byrd, director, Carter Center Mental Health Program

Under the leadership and guidance of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, The Carter Center Mental Health Program is joining with other organizations to bring attention and resources to mental health care, both in the United States and abroad. Program Director Eve Byrd explains. Learn more »

Blog | After Decades of War, National and Personal Healing Begins

By Andrés Bermúdez Liévano, 2017-18 Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellow

My country suffered through 50 years of violent internal conflict before The Carter Center and others helped the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia conclude a historic peace agreement in 2016. While the parties to the talks continue to create and shape a new political reality, people who lived through the conflict are seeking ways to deal with what they have seen and endured. Learn more »

Blog | Harmonizing Religion and Human Rights Webcast Archive

If you missed the Carter Center's original webcast of "Harmonizing Religion and Human Rights," an archive version of the panel discussion can be watched below. Learn more »

Blog | UAE Journalist Reflects on Eye-Opening Year

By Iman Ben Chaibah, recipient of a 2017–2018 Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship

In September, I completed my Rosalynn Carter Fellowship in Mental Health Journalism. The fellowships were started by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter about 20 years ago to provide journalists with resources and opportunities to accurately and holistically report on mental health in their countries and their regions. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Everyday People Can Do Exceptional Things

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer

At The Carter Center, we believe people can improve their own lives when they have the right skills, knowledge, and access to resources. I’d like to introduce you to a few people who are making a real difference in their communities. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Human Rights: How Can We Help the Victims of Boko Haram?

Reverend Esther Ibanga is the senior pastor of Jos Christian Missions International and the president and founder of Women Without Walls Initiative (WOWWI), an organization established to address the persistent ethno–religious conflicts in Plateau state. Under her leadership, WOWWI has provided a platform for women across different ethnic and religious groups to activate their voices in the call for peace. Learn more »

Blog | A Conversation with the Carters 2018 Webcast Archive

In case you missed “A Conversation with the Carters” on Sept. 11 at The Carter Center, an archived version of the webcast can be viewed below. Learn more »

Blog | Human Rights Defender: Women are Essential to Peace

Meet Penda Mbaye, program manager for Tostan in Senegal, where the international nonprofit works to empower women and girls and create positive social change. As an attendee of the Carter Center’s Human Rights Defenders Forum, Mbaye shared her expertise in human rights education and community outreach. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Small Victories Add Up

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer

It’s no secret that this world is full of problems—some big and terrifying, some small and trivial. It may seem overwhelming at times, but it doesn’t have to be paralyzing. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Fellows Get Social, Build Engaged Communities

To extend the reach of their stories and maintain relevance in a world of spinning news cycles, journalists today often have mandates to create social media accounts and share a weekly quota of posts on them. But for Jaclyn Cosgrove, a 2015-16 recipient of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, social media means more than just posting her story. Learn more »

Blog | Groundbreaking Study Could Revolutionize Public Health

A landmark study in which The Carter Center is participating could radically change the public health model in the developing world, experts say. Learn more »

Blog | Malaria Meets Its Match in Music

Malaria, a potentially deadly disease, with its fevers, aches, and extreme fatigue, definitely is not cool. But a music video featuring a great dance beat and a team of top Haitian performers? Now that’s cool! Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Looks at Women, Elections, and Violence

Last year, a Liberian woman named Beatrix decided she wanted to run for a seat in Liberia’s House of Representatives. But when she told her husband of her plan, he told her that she couldn’t, because she was a woman. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Podcast: Jimmy Carter Gets Candid About China

In Feburary 2018, President Carter got candid about China in a guest lecture at Emory University. President Carter discussed factors that led to his decision to normalize U.S. relations with China in 1979. He also talks about a dinner conversation with President Deng Xiaoping that likely led to a surge of Christianity in China, now one of the world's leading producers of Bibles. Learn more »

Blog | Partnership Has Had Trachoma on the Run for 20 Years

By Kelly Callahan, director, Trachoma Control Program

Hard work for a good cause can be its own reward. It’s even better when you have results to show for it. In 2018 The Carter Center is marking 20 years of impact against trachoma, the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness. Learn more »

Blog | Inform Women, Transform Lives

By Laura Neuman, director, Carter Center Global Access to Information Program

Access to information is a transformative human right. Enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, access to information is foundational not just for the exercise of other rights, but also for economic empowerment and meaningful participation in public life. And yet, a large portion of the world’s population is unable to enjoy this right. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Initiative Striking Out Disease on Hispaniola

For these boys, freedom from a disfiguring disease means freedom to pursue their dreams on the diamond. Angel Ciriaco and Rigoberto Bryan are best friends who live in San Pedro de Macoris, a province in the southeastern Dominican Republic. The two 16-year-olds like to talk about school, about girls, and most of all about baseball. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Word Search Challenge!

Play our puzzle! Find peace, health, and hope words in the Carter Center’s Word Search below. Learn more »

Blog | Center Staffer Lays His Life on the Line

By Adamu Sallau, director, Carter Center health programs in Nigeria’s Imo and Abia states

Scientific or logistical challenges aren’t the only issues Carter Center personnel have to deal with while tracking down, treating, and preventing neglected tropical diseases in remote places. Cultural issues often play a role as well, and we have to handle them respectfully and sensitively. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Carter Center Provides Pounds of Prevention

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer

We all know Benjamin Franklin’s proverb “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It makes sense to try to keep a bad thing from happening rather than to try to fix the mess that results if you let the bad thing happen. This simple but profound principle is at work in everything we do at The Carter Center. Learn more »

Blog | A Unique Collaboration

The Carter Center and Emory University celebrate an amazing 35-year partnership in 2017, a rare and productive union between a nongovernmental organization and a leading institution of higher education. Together, our reach has improved the lives of millions of the world's poorest people through disease prevention, conflict resolution, and the strengthening of human rights and democracy. Learn more »

Blog | DRC Human Rights House Mural Beckons Youth to Get Involved

By Jason Kibiswa Bulambo, technical trainer

The Human Rights House operates three neighborhood Youth Houses, or Maisons des Jeunes — two in Kinshasa and one in Goma — where we work to encourage the positive and constructive participation of youth in public affairs. We provide a free space for debate, which encourages the free exchange of ideas on participatory democracy. Learn more »

Blog | Pathways to Peace: Prevention

By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs

Over the course of six recent posts, I shared some of the approaches to waging peace that that The Carter Center and its founder, former President Jimmy Carter, have developed or learned over many years. Learn more »

Blog | Center Works to Understand and Counter the Rise of Islamophobia

By Houda Abadi, associate director, Conflict Resolution Program

Hate crimes in the U.S. against Muslims or people who look as if they may be Muslim are at an all-time high. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, from 2015 to 2016 the number of anti-Muslim hate groups in the U.S. grew 197 percent and anti-Muslim hate crimes surged 67 percent. From January to July 2017, there were 63 attacks on mosques. Learn more »

Blog | Pathways to Peace: The Sixth Principle

By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs

The Carter Center’s motto is “Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope.” In these times, the task for peacemakers is urgent. Learn more »

Blog | Community’s Trust and Commitment Ensure Success

By Dr. Dean G. Sienko, vice president, health programs

At The Carter Center, we never want anyone to be dependent on us. All of our programs are designed to solve problems, and to help our partners build their own capability, resiliency, and self-reliance. We believe in meaningful partnerships, not only with donors and governments but also—and most importantly—with the communities where we work. Learn more »

Blog | Pathways to Peace: The Fifth Principle

By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs

The task for peacemakers today is urgent. Learn more »

Blog | 100&Change: Catching Flies in Nigeria

Juliana Onwumere is a neglected tropical disease coordinator in Imo state ministry of health. As The Carter Center and partners fight to eliminate river blindness disease in Nigeria, one of Onwumere’s tasks is to collect black flies to be tested for evidence of the disease. Learn more »

Blog | 100&Change: Nigeria's Dr. Adewole Aims to Put River Blindness in ’Dust Bin of History’

Millions will be spared future suffering thanks to collaborative efforts of The Carter Center and Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Health to address widespread neglected diseases such river blindness. Hear from Nigeria's Minister of Health, Dr. Isaac Adewole, on the importance of this partnership. Learn more »

Blog | 100&Change: The Carter Center Takes Aim at a Big Fish

By Dr. Frank Richards, director, River Blindness Elimination Program

There’s a famous line in the movie “Jaws” – after the stunned sheriff sees the monster shark for the first time, he says to the shark hunter: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Conveys Note of Pride in South Africa Program

By Rebecca Palpant Shimkets, associate director, Carter Center Mental Health Program

Seeing South Africa’s mental health journalism program blossom fills me, along with Rosalynn Carter and everyone here at the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program, with the kind of pride one feels when a family member receives a university degree. We are thrilled to have helped the program take its first steps. Learn more »

Blog | 100&Change: Dr. Frank Richards Discusses Unique Strategy

How do dirty clothes hanging in a tree help eliminate river blindness in Nigeria? Dr. Frank Richards, who directs the Carter Center’s programs on river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, and schistosomiasis, explains. Learn more »

Blog | Pathways to Peace: The Fourth Principle

By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs

In these times, the task for peacemakers is urgent. Learn more »

Blog | Native American Voters Face Unique Obstacles

By Tye Tavaras

Until 1924’s Indian Citizenship Act, American Indians did not have the legal right to vote. Learn more »

Blog | 100&Change: Health Education Matters

Dr. Frank Richards, who directs the Carter Center’s programs on river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, and schistosomiasis, explains why health education matters in the fight to eliminate diseases. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Small Actions Yield Big Successes

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer, The Carter Center.

We think big at The Carter Center. Big ideas, big plans, big goals. Learn more »

Blog | 100&Change: Community Volunteers Key to River Blindness Strategy

By Dr. Emmanuel Miri, Carter Center country representative, Nigeria

Gabriel Ani is a farmer and schoolteacher in the Ndiulo Enugu-Nato village in Enugu State, Nigeria, who loves his community and is loved back. Gabriel is a community volunteer drug distributor — the hands, feet, and heart of our River Blindness Elimination Program. For nine years, he has served more than 1,000 people in 129 households, carefully measuring each person to determine the proper dosage of medicine and recording it in a ledger. Learn more »

Blog | 100&Change: Community Volunteer Joel Kasuwa Gives Back

Watch how Nigerian Joel Kasuwa, a passionate and committed volunteer, is working with The Carter Center to help us eliminate river blindness in Nigeria. Learn more »

Blog | Pathways to Peace: Patience and Persistence Pay Off

By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs

The Carter Center’s motto is “Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope.” In today’s world, the task for peacemakers is urgent. Learn more »

Blog | Center Initiative Studies How Daesh Exploits Children

The Carter Center’s Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Extremism initiative has issued a paper that analyzes how the Islamic extremist group targets children in its recruitment materials and uses them in its operations. Learn more »

Blog | 100&Change: A Vision for All of Africa

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer, The Carter Center

Leveraging the experience of our pioneering work to eradicate Guinea worm disease, The Carter Center made the audacious decision to pursue elimination of river blindness (onchocerciasis) everywhere we work on it in Africa and Latin America. Learn more »

Blog | Waging Peace in Turbulent Times Webcast Archive

In case you missed “Waging Peace in Turbulent Times” on April 13, 2017, an archived webcast of this event can be viewed below. Learn more »

Blog | Watch President Jimmy Carter’s Remarks this Week to the 2017 WHO’s Global Partners Meeting in Geneva on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)

Watch the video below to hear former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s remarks at the 2017 World Health Organization’s Global Partners Meeting in Geneva on the worldwide effort to reduce the burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Learn more »

Blog | 100&Change: Nigeria's Minister of Health and the Carter Center's CEO Discuss River Blindness Elimination

Why is it critical to eliminate river blindness in Nigeria? Our CEO Amb. Mary Ann Peters and Nigerian Minister of Health Dr. Isaac Adewole explain the need and great potential in this brief video. Learn more »

Blog | Pathways to Peace: The Second Principle

By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs

In today’s world, the task for peacemakers is urgent. Learn more »

Blog | Pathways to Peace: The First Principle

By Jordan Ryan, vice president, peace programs

In this time of extreme polarization, when violence seems to be the “new normal,” we face a threat of escalating conflict at home and abroad. The task for peacemakers is urgent. Learn more »

Blog | Ethiopia Trachoma Control Program Far Exceeds 2016 Surgical Goal

By Kelly Callahan, M.P.H., director, Carter Center Trachoma Control Program

One of the horrible hallmarks of advanced trachoma is a painful inward turning of the eyelids. This condition, called trachomatous trichiasis, causes the sufferer’s eyelashes to scrape the surface of the eye, often leading to blindness. Among other interventions, The Carter Center trains and equips local health-care workers to perform a simple outpatient surgical procedure that reverses the condition. Learn more »

Blog | Clinicians Attend to Young Minds in Liberia

Liberia’s 2014-2015 Ebola crisis, following a 14-year civil war, left devastated families in its wake. Thousands of children and adolescents were orphaned, confined in isolation units, or stranded at home watching loved ones suffer and die, triggering a special set of post-traumatic mental health challenges. Learn more »

Blog | 100&Change: MacArthur’s Cecilia Conrad Discusses the Carter Center's Proposal

Cecilia Conrad, managing director of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, discusses the Carter Center’s 100&Change proposal, which aims to eliminate river blindness in Nigeria. Learn more »

Blog | We Accomplish Much by Working Together

By Jimmy Carter, co-founder, The Carter Center

After leaving the White House, Rosalynn and I searched our hearts for ways to use our unique position to help those less fortunate around the world. We knew that two issues were of paramount importance: advancing peace and preventing human suffering. Learn more »

Blog | New VP Gets Close-up Look at Work in the Field

By Dean G. Sienko, M.D., M.S., vice president, Carter Center Health Programs

I’m the new guy around here. Although I’ve visited and worked in many places during my medical career – including multiple overseas deployments with the U.S. Army – my first trip abroad with The Carter Center was a new highlight. Learn more »

Blog | Watch Guinea Worm Disease Press Conference with President Carter and Dr. Hopkins | Webcast Archive

In case you missed the Center’s Facebook Live coverage of U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Dr. Donald Hopkins’ press conference on Jan. 11, 2017, an archived webcast of this event can be viewed below. Learn more »

Blog | Watch President Carter Behind the Scenes of 'Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease' Exhibition

In this exclusive interview, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter ventures behind-the-scenes of “Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease,” an exhibition created in collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History, open at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum through Oct. 9. Learn more »

Blog | Despite Plebiscite Defeat, Democracy Lives On

By Jake Turner, intern, Latin America and Caribbean Program

As an intern in the Latin America and Caribbean Program, I had the opportunity to be part of Colombia’s domestic election observation to witness Colombians voting abroad on Oct. 2 in a plebiscite to approve the peace accord between the government and the Marxist rebel group FARC.  Our assignment was to observe the vote at the consulate in Atlanta. Learn more »

Blog | China Teen Hand Delivers Donation

One afternoon last summer, a 14-year-old boy from China turned up at The Carter Center bearing a check for $451. Leo Hu and his schoolmates in Xi-an raised the money by charging admission to a play they wrote about Syrian refugees, and he flew all the way to across the Pacific to deliver it in person. Learn more »

Blog | Nigeria Teen Receives Ceremonial Dose of Praziquantel

Thirteen-year-old Jude Musa looked serious, even stoic, as a volunteer from his village gauged his height with a measuring stick. Community drug distributor Yusuf Maikeffi determined the proper dose of praziquantel and handed the tablets to the boy, who popped them into his mouth and chased them with fresh water from a plastic pouch. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Center Hits 500 Million Milestone

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer

As I write this, The Carter Center is closing in on the distribution of its 500 millionth dose of drugs to combat neglected tropical diseases. That’s half a billion doses of medication given to tens of millions of people suffering or at risk for river blindness, trachoma, lymphatic filariasis, and schistosomiasis. Big institutional milestones are the result of small individual efforts. Learn more »

Blog | Hunting Parasites in the Dark

By Hunter Keys, consultant, Hispaniola Initiative

Parasites keep strange schedules. Those that cause lymphatic filariasis, for example, are mostly active at night. To detect parasites in the blood, health workers will take a nocturnal sample, sometimes as late as 2 a.m. Learn more »

Blog | Notes From the Field: Guatemala Eliminates River Blindness

By Dr. Frank Richards, director, River Blindness Elimination Program

My career has come full circle. I was working in Guatemala for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1988 on the parasitic worm disease called river blindness. Then, Guatemala was Latin America’s most endemic country for the disease, which is spread by bites of black flies breeding in streams. Now, the World Health Organization has verified that Guatemala has eliminated the disease. This is a monumental achievement, reflecting 28 years of effort. Learn more »

Blog | Observing U.S. Elections Webcast Archive

In case you missed “Observing U.S. Elections” on Oct. 13, 2016, an archived webcast of this event can be viewed below. Learn more »

Blog | Observing U.S. Elections: Q&A with Democracy Program Experts David Carroll & Avery Davis-Roberts

In advance of the U.S. presidential election of 2016, which will take place on Nov. 8, Davis-Roberts and Carroll answered questions on election observation in the United States. Learn more »

Blog | Americas Program Book Maps Human Rights Network in Colombia

On Sept. 15, members of the Center’s Americas Program traveled to Bogotá, Colombia, for the launch of Trayectoria Institucional de los DDH en Colombia: Retos para Tiempos de Paz, a new publication produced by The Carter Center. Learn more »

Blog | A Conversation with the Carters Webcast Archive

In case you missed “A Conversation with the Carters” on Sept. 13, 2016, an archived webcast of this event can be viewed below. Learn more »

Blog | Finding the End of a 50-Year Civil War: Q&A with Carter Center Expert Jennie Lincoln

For more than 50 years, Colombia has been plagued by civil war. The fighting forced more than 5 million people from their homes and claimed the lives of more than 200,000, according to most reports. But finally, after four years of negotiations, peace is at hand. The Carter Center has been working behind the scenes in Colombia to help prepare for life after war. Learn more »

Blog | War of Words: Helping Muslim Leaders Fight Terrorist Propaganda

Every year, thousands of people leave their home countries and travel to Syria or Iraq to join Daesh, also known as ISIS. Why? What compels these people — most of them young, most of them men — to leave their families and the relative comforts of their homes to fight and die in places where they have no ties? How can we stop others from following in their footsteps? Learn more »

Blog | Keeping the Peace: Carter Center Helps Liberia’s Chiefs Prepare for Bigger Role in National Security

This month, the United Nations turned over the responsibility for Liberia’s security to the Liberian government. It’s the first time in 13 years that the government has been solely in charge of keeping the peace. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Unveils New Website

Welcome to the Carter Center’s new website which embraces new tools, new technology, and new servers. The result? A new and improved website with an updated look. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Local People Know Best

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer, The Carter Center

The Carter Center operates under the firm conviction that people are capable of solving their own challenges, and our role is to provide them the tools and training to do it. Learn more »

Blog | Words Matter: Talking About Mental Health Webcast Archive

One simple way we can help people dealing with mental illness is by choosing our words with care. How we speak and write about mental illness can help either reinforce or break down stereotypes. The Carter Center has long worked to reduce stigma by providing fellowships to journalists covering mental health. Learn more »

Blog | The Power of Information | Webcast Archive

Without information, it is almost impossible to ensure your rights are protected, improve your economic situation, or make your voice heard. In case you missed “The Power of Information” at The Carter Center on March 15, 2016, an archived webcast of this Conversations at The Carter Center event can be viewed here. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Changing the World Through Partnership

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer

During my 18 months at The Carter Center, I’ve been struck repeatedly not only by the frequency of our successes, but also by the chance to appreciate them on two vastly differ­ent scales. Learn more »

Blog | New Project Examines U.S. Laws on Election Observation

By Nandi Vanka, program assistant, Democracy Program

Impartial election observers help build confidence in the integrity of the voting process, and their assessments and recommendations help protect voters’ rights. Learn more »

Blog | Drawing Inspiration in Guatemala

By Chris Hale, associate director, Global Access to Information Program

“Information is power” is a refrain most of us have heard before. The work of The Carter Center’s Global Access to Information Program rests not only on a firm belief that information is power, but that the right to access information is the basic currency for democratic participation and an active and full exercise of citizenship. Learn more »

Blog | How to Head Off Trouble in U.S.-China Relations: Q&A with Carter Center Expert Ying Zhu

The world’s two great superpowers could achieve more progress if there were less suspicion and more cooperation between them, participants in a series of bilateral Carter Center forums say. Learn more »

Blog | President Carter Receives Prestigious Awards from Panama and the LBJ Foundation

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter received back-to-back honors this week in appreciation of his efforts to promote peace and human rights. Learn more »

Blog | Stories from 100 Elections Webcast Archive

In case you missed “Stories from 100 Elections” at The Carter Center on Dec. 2, 2015, an archived webcast of this Conversations at The Carter Center event can be viewed below. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Center Poised for Future Impact

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer, The Carter Center

Carter Center founders Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have been an inspiration for our work for more than three decades. With President Carter’s recent announcement that he is in treatment for melanoma, many of our friends have asked what the plans are for Carter Center programs without the Carters. Learn more »

Blog | Video Trip Notes: Jason Carter in Myanmar

The people of Myanmar took a major step in moving their country toward democratic rule, turning out in large numbers to cast their ballots in November 2015 elections. Learn more »

Blog | ‘MIND/GAME’ Documentary Details Star Athlete's Struggle with Mental Illness

Success in sports is said to be 90 percent mental. Even for a physically gifted athlete like Chamique Holdsclaw, that number may be low. Learn more »

Blog | Reflections on 100 Elections: Q&A with Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter

Last May in Guyana, The Carter Center celebrated its 100th election observation mission. In this Q&A, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who led the Center’s first election mission to Panama in 1989 and 38 of the 99 that followed, discusses three decades of elections, remembering ones that made history, ones that put his life in danger, and one that brought tears to his eyes. Learn more »

Blog | Malaria Fight in Hispaniola Requires Tailored Approach

By Dr. Gregory Noland, epidemiologist

In honor of Malaria Day in the Americas, we asked Carter Center expert and epidemiologist Dr. Gregory Noland to explain how fighting the disease in Hispaniola differs from strategies employed in Africa. Learn more »

Blog | Forging a New Path in Myanmar: Q&A with Carter Center Expert Jonathan Stonestreet

After more than 50 years of oppressive military rule, the southeast Asian nation of Myanmar is emerging from isolation and taking its first tentative steps toward democracy. Learn more »

Blog | Syria: In Search of Solutions - Webcast Archive

In case you missed “Syria: In Search of Solutions” at The Carter Center on Oct. 13, 2015, an archived version can be viewed below. Learn more »

Blog | ‘Buried Above Ground’ Sparks Dialogue, Empowers Audiences

By Ben Selkow, 2010-11 Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellow and documentary filmmaker

In summarizing his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experience, war veteran and former U.S. Army Captain Luis Carlos Montalván says, “A disproportionate amount of time is spent thinking about the past than your average person. Learn more »

Blog | Mental Health in Liberia: Stand Up and Act!

By Matthew Nyanplu, journalist from Monrovia, Liberia

In the last few years, there has been an awakening in the consciousness of Liberian communities that people living with mental illness are a valuable part of society and represent an important resource for social transformation and community cohesion. Learn more »

Blog | A Conversation with the Carters 2015 Webcast Archive

In case you missed “A Conversation with the Carters” on Sept. 15 at The Carter Center, an archived version of the webcast can be viewed below. Learn more »

Blog | Five Important Facts About Guinea Worm

By Donald Hopkins, M.D., is special advisor, Guinea Worm Eradication Program, The Carter Center

Donald Hopkins, M.D., is special advisor to the Guinea Worm Eradication Program at The Carter Center and has been leading the effort to eradicate this neglected disease for over 25 years. Listen below as he tells NPR’s Robin Young about the Center’s efforts to rid the world of this ancient and painful affliction. Learn more »

Blog | President Carter Champions Women's Human Rights at TEDWomen 2015

At a recent TEDWomen 2015 conference, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter spoke out against violence directed toward women and named abuse of women and girls as the number one human rights violation in the world. Learn more »

Blog | Integrated Care Key to Better Outcomes

By Dr. John Bartlett, senior project adviser, Mental Health Program

In 1993, my 92-year-old mother suffered a severe heart attack. After two months in the hospital, she returned home a changed woman. On the day of her heart attack, she had been dancing around in her famous red pantsuit with her grandchildren, but back at home following her hospital stay, she would sit on the sofa, motionless, not talking  very much, and eating less. Learn more »

Blog | From the CEO: Center Fueled by Passionate, Brave Staff in Field

By Ambassador (ret.) Mary Ann Peters, chief executive officer, The Carter Center

Passion and courage abound at The Carter Center. These two valuable resources compel and sustain expatriate staff and hundreds of in-country employees and volunteers who work to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope. Learn more »

Blog | Election Observation Then and Now: Q&A with Carter Center Expert David Carroll

David Carroll, director of the Carter Center’s Democracy Program, has been in the field for about 40 of the Center’s election observation missions and helped manage another 30 or so from headquarters in Atlanta. On the eve of the Center’s 100th election mission, which will take place in Guyana on May 11, he sat down to explain how election observation works and how the field has changed since 1989, when the Center began its election work. Learn more »

Blog | Scaling Up: Center-Supported Treatments Reach Record Numbers

In 2014, Carter Center health programs assisted in the distribution of more drug treatments for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) than in any previous year, demonstrating the Center’s commitment to alleviating suffering and improving the lives of those who live in the world’s poorest and most isolated communities. Learn more »

Blog | Breaking the Cycle of Malaria and Lymphatic Filariasis: Q&A with Dr. Stephen Blount

The Carter Center began its work in Haiti and the Dominican Republic after a 2006 recommendation by the Center-sponsored International Task Force for Disease Eradication declared it is “technically feasible, medically desirable, and economically beneficial” to eliminate both malaria and lymphatic filariasis from the shared island of Hispaniola.  Learn more »

Blog | Peace in Liberia, 10 Years Later Webcast Archive

In case you missed “Peace in Liberia, 10 Years Later” at The Carter Center, an archived version of the webcast can be viewed below. Learn more »

Blog | Healing Liberia: A Mental Health Crisis

By Katherine Kam, 2012-2013 recipient of a Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism

Civil wars, a country in ruins, a traumatized population of four million people, and only one psychiatrist for the entire West African country of Liberia. When the country’s Ministry of Health invited The Carter Center to help build mental health services in the conflict’s aftermath, questions abounded. Learn more »

Blog | Combating Violence and Discrimination Against Women and Girls Webcast Archive

On Feb. 10, 2015, three human rights defenders joined President Carter for a discussion on protecting the rights of women and girls, with a special emphasis on women and peacemaking and on the role religious leaders can play in this effort. Learn more »

Blog | China Program Video Contest Aims to Increase Cross-Cultural Understanding

By Yawei Liu, director, China Program

The relationship between the U.S. and China is an incredibly important one. In the 36 years since former U.S. President Jimmy Carter normalized relations between the two superpowers, the countries have developed a productive and mutually beneficial relationship. But suspicion and mistrust still exist. Much of the Carter Center’s work in China in the last few years has involved advancing U.S.-China relations, in part by nurturing the next generation of leaders in both nations. Learn more »

Blog | Artifacts Paint Picture of Eradication Campaign

A special exhibition exploring the challenges and benefits of eradicating disease runs Jan. 13 – July 12, 2015, at the American Museum of Natural History. Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, developed in collaboration with The Carter Center, uses stunning photography, videography, and artifacts to highlight several global efforts to fight infections. Chief among these is the campaign led by The Carter Center that may soon eradicate Guinea worm disease. Learn more »

Blog | Progress, Trends, and Challenges in Mental Health: Q&A with Dr. Thom Bornemann

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 »

Blog | From the CEO: Center’s Principles Put into Practice in Liberia

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 »

Blog | Tunisians Vote in First Free Presidential Election - Photos

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 »

Blog | Building a Lasting Peace: Where Are the Women? - Webcast Archive

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 »

Blog | Mozambique Elections Could Mark Turning Point

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 »

Blog | Living with Schizophrenia

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 »

Blog | President Carter Discusses How Technology Helps Wage Peace, Fight Disease

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 »

Blog | Celebrating 200 Million Doses of Mectizan®

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 »

Blog | From the CEO: A Look Back and Forward

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 »

Blog | Memories from a Carter Weekend

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 »

Blog | Notes From the Field: In Ethiopia, We Handle Trachoma Directly

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 »

Blog | See Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy Demonstration at The Carter Center

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 »

Blog | Q&A with a Guinea Worm Worker in South Sudan

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 »

Blog | Watch President Carter’s Remarks to the 67th World Health Assembly

“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 »

Blog | The Sight Behind the Statistic

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 »

Blog | Panama Elections Full of Contradictions and Tensions

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 »

Blog | Justice in Urban Liberia

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 »

Blog | President Carter Discusses Women's Rights on "The Colbert Report"

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 »

Blog | Join President Carter's Call to Action

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 »

Blog | Woman Sees Better Future After Eye Surgery

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 »

Blog | Working to Improve the Mental Health Care System in Liberia

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 »

Blog | From the CEO: Technology Aids Center’s Work

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 »

Blog | Credible Elections are a Starting Point for Change in Madagascar

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 »

Blog | River Blindness Treatment Brings Joy of Marriage Back to Ugandan Village

The success of the Ugandan National Onchocerciasis Program in Abeju means that fewer children will be ostracized because of river blindness. Many of the benefits of Uganda’s National Onchocerciasis Elimination Program, supported by The Carter Center, are readily apparent: reduced blindness and itching, increased productivity, and better overall health outcomes. Learn more »

Blog | Celebrating the 100 Millionth Treatment for Blinding Trachoma

In early November, The Carter Center reached a trachoma milestone: supporting the distribution of more than 100 million doses of the trachoma-fighting drug Zithromax®, donated by Pfizer Inc. These treatments were provided over the last 11 years to trachoma-endemic communities in six African countries: Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Sudan, and South Sudan. Learn more »

Blog | The Affordable Care Act and You | Q&A with Dr. John Bartlett

Carter Center expert Dr. John Bartlett, a senior project adviser to the Mental Health Program and organizer of this year’s 29th Annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, answers your questions submitted via email. Learn more »

Blog | President Carter Discusses Neglected Diseases on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’

President Carter spoke with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America about the Center's fight to wipe out trachoma and combat other neglected diseases. No former president has served longer out of office or made such a mark against some of the world's most intractable problems, Stephanopoulos said as he introduced the president. Learn more »

Blog | Critical Nepal Election to End Stalemate, Promote Stability

Carter Center expert David Pottie explains the importance of Nepal’s upcoming election and the role of Carter Center observers. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Pursues Lasting Peace in the Sudans

The geographic lines dividing Sudan and South Sudan “are completely blurry, so we focus on the lines that connect us,” Professor Jok Madut Jok, undersecretary in South Sudan’s Ministry of Culture, said during a “Conversations at The Carter Center” on Oct. 15. Learn more »

Blog | Fellowship Helps Bring Purpose to Passion

Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Robert Pastor and his wife, Margy, a fellowship is now available to support the work and study of a summer fellow in the Carter Center’s Americas Program. The founder and former director of the Americas Program, Dr. Pastor was advisor for Latin American affairs on the National Security Council in the Carter White House. Learn more »

Blog | Art as a Bridge to Health

A community art group has been helping the Carter Center’s Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA) highlight vital health messages. Learn more »

Blog | Join Our Conversation on World Mental Health Day, Oct. 10, 2013

On World Mental Health Day, Oct. 10, we here at The Carter Center will pause to reflect upon the many advances in the field of mental health, including improvements in diagnosing and treating mental illnesses, as well as advancing parity for mental health in our health care system. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Celebrates International Right to Know Day with Liberians

By Laura Neuman, manager, Global Access to Information Program

In celebration of International Right to Know Day on Sept. 28, 2013, The Carter Center and local partners in Liberia hosted a series of activities to raise awareness of the value of freedom of information and to encourage the use and full implementation of the country’s 2010 Freedom of Information Act. Learn more »

Blog | Local Georgia Police Chief Travels with Carter Center Mental Health Program in Liberia

Moultrie, Ga., Police Chief Frank N. Lang Sr. recently traveled with the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program to Liberia where he helped train local law enforcement officers on how to support people experiencing a mental health crisis. Learn more »

Blog | National Council Advocacy Leadership Awards Recognize Strongest Advocates for Improved Mental Health and Addictions Care

The National Council for Behavioral Health has recognized The Carter Center and three other organizations with the 2013 Advocacy Leadership Awards for their contributions to the field of mental health. Learn more »

Blog | The Need for Election Observation in… Norway?

The Nobel Peace Prize, the playwright Henrik Ibsen, the pop group A-ha — this was pretty much the extent of my knowledge about Norway until recently. But this summer, The Carter Center was invited by the Kingdom of Norway to observe their Internet voting trials in connection with this year’s parliamentary elections, which took place on Monday, Sept. 9. With a first visit in July, I have since learned a great deal more. Learn more »

Blog | Inside Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw

By Rick Goldsmith, 2013-2014 Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism

I was drawn to WNBA star Chamique Holdsclaw’s story from the day I read a piece on her in the New York Times in early 2012. She’d been the best of the best at her sport, took a great fall, but emerged in apparent recovery as an advocate who was remarkably candid about her own story. Learn more »

Blog | Jimmy Carter, New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof, and Carter Center’s Donald Hopkins Cover Global Health Challenges in New Conversations on Google+ Series

On Sept. 10, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, and Carter Center disease eradication expert Dr. Donald R. Hopkins held a special video chat, “Global Health: How We Can Make a Difference,” to kick off a new series called Conversations on Google+ launching later this fall. Learn more »

Blog | Tune In: Carter Center River Blindness Experts Featured in Documentary on Public Television

“Dark Forest, Black Fly,” an independent documentary feature film from award-winning producer Gary Strieker and Cielo Productions, offers an in-depth look at Uganda’s pending triumph against river blindness, a disease that has blinded sufferers in Africa for thousands of years. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Trains Youth Leaders in Liberia

On Aug. 19-22, the Carter Center’s Access to Justice Project, in collaboration with Liberia’s ministries of Justice and Internal Affairs, trained 30 youth leaders in Kakata on conflict resolution skills and knowledge of the rule of law. Learn more »

Blog | Update from the field: Nepal Teams Monitor Voter Registration

Watch the Carter Center’s Far Western Region team observing voter registration for upcoming national and local elections in Nepal and discussing their work. Since 2009, The Carter Center has monitored and reported on issues related to Nepal’s peace process. The Center’s long-term observers are deployed throughout the country and often travel to remote communities to gain an understanding of local perspectives. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Exclusive: CDC Director Tom Frieden Discusses Importance of Mental Health Surveillance

By Dr. Tom Frieden, director, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

It was an honor to share the stage with former First Lady Rosalynn Carter at the 18th annual Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum in May. We celebrated the publication of the MMWR Weekly Report Supplement: “Mental Health Surveillance Among Children in the United States — 2005-2011,” the first-ever summary of federal activities tracking children’s mental disorders in the U.S. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center’s Dr. Hopkins Receives Honorary Doctorate from Harvard University

During its commencement ceremonies May 30, Harvard University presented Carter Center Vice President of Health Programs Dr. Donald Hopkins with an honorary Doctor of Science degree for his leadership in disease eradication, particularly his work on the Center’s campaign to wipe out the water borne affliction Guinea worm disease. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center and CDC Experts Participate in Google+ Hangout to Discuss Progress to Eliminate River Blindness from Americas

Carter Center and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) experts discuss the latest updates on the campaign to wipe out a debilitating parasitic disease, river blindness (onchocerciasis) from the Western Hemisphere via Google+ Hangout On Air. Learn more »

Blog | The Carter Center Hosts Launch of American Journal of Public Health’s First Theme Issue on Stigma

On April 18, 2013, former U.S. First Lady and Carter Center Co-Founder Rosalynn Carter and former Congressman Tony Coelho joined experts from the federal government and other mental health officials to discuss new research published in the American Journal of Public Health’s first theme issue on stigma against people with mental illness at The Carter Center in Atlanta. <p>The theme …</p> Learn more »

Blog | Fighting Stigma Against People with Mental Illness | Q&A with Rebecca Palpant Shimkets

Rebecca Palpant Shimkets, assistant director in the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program, describes the stigma facing people with mental illnesses and how the Carter Center’s activities aim to help. Learn more »

Blog | Dr. Paul Emerson and Huffington Post Live Launch Carter Center’s Call for Action Against Trachoma

By Carter Center Trachoma Control Program Director, Dr. Paul Emerson

This is an excerpt from Carter Center Trachoma Control Program Director Dr. Paul Emerson’s Huffington Post Blog, “The Eye of the Beholder: Why Fighting Trachoma Matters.” Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Long-Term Impact in Nepal Rooted in Local Encounters

By Ben Dunant, Carter Center election observer, Nepal

We sat within walls of mud and thatch that warped gently into corners that flaked at the seams, cross-legged on thick carpets with woven Tibetan patterns. Our hosts in the village of Sikles presented us with local food that arrived in portion after portion, all accompanied by steamy hot glasses of raksi, the milky-colored spirit distilled from harvested millet. Learn more »

Blog | Young Adults, Mental Health, and Social Media

By Tina Rezvani, assistant program coordinator, Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism

Recently, the Carter Center Mental Health Program hosted the panel discussion “Beyond Stigma: Bringing the Conversation about Mental Illness Forward,” on the stigma of mental illness among young adults. One topic that proved especially important was the role social media plays in young people’s lives and, consequently, their mental health. Learn more »

Blog | Dr. Adetokunbo O. Lucas Honored With 2013 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian Award

On March 5, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) awarded Dr. Adetokunbo O. Lucas the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian Award for Dr. Lucas’ “outstanding humanitarian efforts and achievements that have contributed to improving the health of humankind.” The NFID, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public and health care professionals about infectious disease, has given the award. Learn more »

Blog | Winter Weekend Attendees Gather for 21st Year to Support Peace, Health in San Diego

It was hard to feel the chill of winter in San Diego, Calif., as donors and supporters from around the world came together for the Carter Center’s annual Winter Weekend fundraiser at the Hotel Del Coronado on Feb. 20-24. Now in its 21st year, the Winter Weekends have raised more than $19 million to support the Center’s work. Learn more »

Blog | Fighting Guinea Worm in Ghana

There is no vaccine or medicine to fight Guinea worm disease; instead, The Carter Center uses four main interventions to lead the international campaign against the debilitating parasite. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Receives Ronald McDonald House Charities Grant for Mental Health Work in Liberia

Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®) has awarded The Carter Center $200,000 to support the Mental Health Program in Liberia. The funding will be used to train mental health care providers and to build supportive community environments that will benefit individuals suffering from mental illnesses and their families. Learn more »

Blog | Jordan Elections Offer a Test of Recent Reforms

By Ellen Lust, a Carter Center political analyst in Jordan

Jordan’s Jan. 23 parliamentary elections are taking place in a climate of uncertainty, due to dissatisfaction with the pace of electoral reform and frustration with the state of the economy. In late-November there were demonstrations against the monarch, sparked by a sharp increase in gas prices. Learn more »

Blog | Virtual Media Roundtable – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Releases Guinea Worm Case Numbers for 2012

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Carter Center Guinea worm experts Drs. Donald R. Hopkins and Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben will host a media roundtable via Google+ Hangout to announce the provisional Guinea worm case totals for 2012 and discuss significant progress in the international Guinea worm eradication campaign led by The Carter Center. Learn more »

Blog | Nigerian Village Prevents, Treats Schistosomiasis

By Lindsay Rakers, senior program associate for The Carter Center

Eight years ago, the urine of 12-year-old Jude Ogwu was consistently red from blood. His father, chief of Aboh, a village in southeast Nigeria, took him to the hospital for treatment but received none. The hospital lacked medicine and the resources needed to treat Ogwu, who was suffering. Learn more »

Blog | It’s the End of the World…for Guinea Worm Disease

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 »

Blog | School Girl Helps Family Fight Trachoma

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 »

Blog | Election Observers Aim to “Illuminate” the Process in Sierra Leone

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 »

Blog | Jimmy Carter Responds to Questions on Peace, Health, and Hope from Around the World

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 »

Blog | President Jimmy Carter, CDC Foundation Hero

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 »

Blog | Carter Center, Merck, and Partners Celebrate 25th Anniversary of Mectizan Donation Program

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 »

Blog | Cause for Concern: Shattering the Stigma of Depression and Breast Cancer

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 »

Blog | Jimmy Carter to Answer Your Questions via Social Media

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 »

Blog | Carter Center and PsychCentral.com to Host World Mental Health Day Blog Party Oct. 10

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 »

Blog | Carter Center Conducts Study Mission to Venezuela Elections

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 »

Blog | Making Medical History: BASF Donation Helps Stop Two Neglected Diseases

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 »

Blog | Jimmy Carter Sets Record for Longest Post-White House Career

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 »

Blog | Q&A with Yawei Liu: China’s Impact on African Continent is Focus of New Website

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 »

Blog | Additional Air Dates Set for “Foul Water Fiery Serpent” Guinea Worm Documentary

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 »

Blog | Carter Center on Leading Edge of Technology Use in Election Observation

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 »

Blog | Notes from the Field: Listening to Communities We Serve to Better Combat Malaria and Lymphatic Filariasis, Improve Bed Net Education

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 »

Blog | On The Ground in Egypt: Carter Center Mission Witnesses June 16-17 Presidential Runoff Election

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 »

Blog | Trailblazer Legend Award Recognizes President Carter’s Judicial Appointments

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 »

Blog | Carter Center Health Programs Vice President Dr. Donald R. Hopkins Receives Pumphandle Epidemiology Award

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 »

Blog | From Atlanta to Hiroshima: Interns Honor Carters With a Thousand Paper Cranes for Peace

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 »

Blog | Egypt Election: Witnessing Egypt's Historic Presidential Vote, Runoff Election June 16-17

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 »

Blog | Sudan Announces River Blindness Success in Abu Hamad

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 »

Blog | Carter Center’s Mental Health Work in Liberia Highlighted by New Foundation: Focusing Philanthropy

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 »

Blog | Developments in the Middle East and North Africa

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 »

Blog | Worn as Pendants, Makeshift Tweezers Reflect Desperation for Relief from Blinding Trachoma

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 »

Blog | Foul Water Fiery Serpent: Guinea Worm Documentary to Air on American Public Television Stations Nationwide

“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 »

Blog | Catching Flies, Monitoring River Blindness in Mexico and Guatemala

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 »

Blog | Regional Town Hall Meetings Promote Vision for Revitalizing Georgia’s Mental Health Care System

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 »

Blog | On The Ground in Cairo: Carter Center Delegation Witnesses Third Phase of Egypt’s Parliamentary Elections

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 »

Blog | Building Better Lives, Brick by Brick

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 »

Blog | Carter Center Observes Challenging DRC Elections, Committed to Country’s Long-Term Stability

On Nov. 28, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is holding its second democratic multi-party national elections since gaining independence in 1960, and the first to be administered solely by the country’s election commission. Elections in 2006 were overseen by the United Nations. Learn more »

Blog | What Are You Thankful For?

At The Carter Center, we are thankful for all that has been accomplished over the last year: historic elections in Sudan and Tunisia; the end of Guinea worm disease in Ghana; the first graduating class of mental health workers in Liberia; and so much more. Learn more »

Blog | The Carter Center Congratulates Latin American Countries for Major Strides Toward the Elimination of River Blindness

The Carter Center and its Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA) are pleased to congratulate three Latin American countries on their recent progress toward eliminating river blindness (onchocerciasis). Learn more »

Blog | DRC Deaf Voter Education Empowers Those With No Voice

By Max Lockie, Carter Center long-term observer

Carter Center long-term observer Max Lockie is based in Matadi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.  The Center established an office in Kinshasa in August and deployed 10 long-term observers to seven  provinces: Kinshasa, Bas-Congo, Oriental Province, North Kivu, South Kivu, Katanga, and Kasai Oriental. In September, the Center deployed another 10 long-term observers to the remaining provinces.  Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Staff Participate in France-Atlanta 2011 Event

The Carter Center is partnering with the Consulate General of France in Atlanta and the Georgia Institute of Technology as part of “France-Atlanta 2011,” a series of 15 events being held Oct. 26-Nov. 12, designed to strengthen ties in the fields of science, economics, culture, and humanitarian work. Learn more »

Blog | Georgia Institute of Technology Professor "Computes for Good" with Carter Center's Mental Health Project in Liberia

By Paige Rohe, assistant director, news and information, of the Carter Center’s Office of Public Information.

A torrential rain began in Monrovia, Liberia, causing the power to flicker and the Internet to shut down, but Georgia Institute of Technology professor Dr. Ellen Zegura didn’t let the disruption stop the computer and software training session she was holding with Liberia’s first class of mental health clinicians. Learn more »

Blog | Voting Day: Liberia's Oct. 11 Presidential and Legislative Elections

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center.

Deborah Hakes, assistant director of the Carter Center's Office of Public Information, reports from Liberia, where the Carter Center's international election observation team monitored the country's Oct. 11 elections. Learn more »

Blog | Britain to Help Carter Center Secure Funding For Worldwide Eradication of Worm Disease

In London today, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter addressed an audience of international journalists and partners to announce that the Carter Center-led global campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease has entered its final stage to end this gruesome waterborne parasitic infection. Learn more »

Blog | Friends Celebrate 10th Anniversary of the Inter-American Democratic Charter

A group of former leaders and human rights experts serve as a watchdog to threats against democratic stability in the Americas and as a voice to strengthen, promote, and protect democracy and human rights. The group aims to bolster the effectiveness of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, approved on Sept. 11, 2001. Learn more »

Blog | On the Ground in Northwest Tunisia: Rural Voters Hope Elections Bring Much-Needed Change

By Marwa Alkhairo, a Carter Center long-term election observer in northwest Tunisia and Bizerte

Marwa Alkhairo is a Carter Center long-term election observer in northwest Tunisia and Bizerte. "La bas alaik" and "ca va," means "are you well," one phrase said in Arabic, and one in French. These two greetings are indicative of the complexity that one immediately notices upon reaching northwest Tunisia. Learn more »

Blog | Liberia's First Mental Health Clinicians Deploy to Fight Disease, Build Hope

By Paige Rohe, media relations coordinator for The Carter Center.

Torrential rains in Monrovia, Liberia, Friday morning did not deter dozens of family members and friends from arriving at the Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts hours before graduation ceremonies for the nation’s first mental health clinicians began. No one wanted to miss their loved one become part of their nation’s history and hope for a better future. Learn more »

Blog | Forum Addresses Media Stereotypes, Politicized Reporting in Latin America

Misunderstandings and tensions between Andean countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela) and the United States are common, and often reinforced or made worse by charged, politicized reporting in media stories related to these countries. Learn more »

Blog | Health Workers Overcome Logistical Challenges to Battle Guinea Worm in Southern Sudan

With approximately 95 percent of the world’s remaining Guinea worm cases, South Sudan looks to be the final battleground in the fight to wipe out this debilitating worm worldwide. The Southern Sudan Guinea Worm Eradication Program, together with The Carter Center, has almost 10,000 dedicated local health workers on the ground, working everywhere from the bustling capital of Juba to the most remote villages imaginable. Learn more »

Blog | Michael Biesecker: Journalism Fellow Chronicles Abuse, Fraud in North Carolina

Reporter Michael Biesecker's coverage of mental health issues began with a high-speed car chase following a robbery. In the course of Biesecker's investigation, he found that although the driver was in a psychotic state two weeks before the crime, he had been turned away from the state's psychiatric hospital. Learn more »

Blog | Share Your Thoughts: What Does "Peace" Mean to You?

Peace is more than the absence of war. There is an inner peace that comes from personal security and personal freedom. Peace also includes the sense of a mother and father that their children will live, that they’ll have food for them to eat, and that they won’t be subject to a lifetime of suffering that could have been prevented. Learn more »

Blog | New Carter Center Planned Giving Website Offers Interactive Tools, Helpful Information

Planned gifts are an excellent way to ensure that The Carter Center continues to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope far into the future, while also offering financial benefits to donors.  The new Carter Center planned giving website offers a wealth of information and interactive tools to help potential donors find a plan that fits their goals. Learn more »

Blog | 10 Million Bed Nets Help Worst-Affected Communities in Nigeria and Ethiopia Fight Malaria

A mother’s lullabies and soft caress are common nighttime rituals for children around the world. But throughout Africa, these soothing efforts cannot spare a child the high fevers, wracking chills, nausea, and headache of malaria - potentially fatal disease. Learn more »

Blog | Liberian Students Making History and Making a Difference in Mental Health

By Dr. Janice Cooper, Carter Center's project lead for mental health in Liberia

Dr. Janice Cooper, a native Liberian, is the Carter Center’s project lead for a new mental health initiative that, in partnership with the Liberia Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, is helping the nation build a sustainable mental health care system. This spring, Dr. Cooper began training Liberia’s first cadre of qualified, home-grown mental health clinicians. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Helps Protect Congolese Human Rights Defenders Through Alert System

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, human rights activists often face intimidation and threats of violence, a situation expected to worsen as November 2011 national elections approach. Listen to Sophie Borel talk about why the alert system was established. Learn more »

Blog | Human Rights Defender Discusses Importance of Working Together to Advance Women’s Rights

Ratna Osman, acting executive director of Malaysia’s Sisters in Islam, was one of a diverse group of 72 human rights activists and religious scholars from 22 countries to attend the Carter Center’s human rights defenders forum this week in Atlanta. Learn more »

Blog | Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Urges Promotion of Women's Rights by Religious Communities

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter urged religious communities to promote, not hinder, women’s rights during his opening remarks at the 2011 Human Rights Defenders Forum taking place at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Ga., April 3-6. The remarks were a follow up to a speech he gave to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 2009. Learn more »

Blog | Upcoming Forum to Promote Women's Rights

From April 3-6, human rights leaders and scholars will gather at The Carter Center to discuss the key challenges that women's rights activists face and ways to work with religious, traditional, and government institutions to advance the protection of these rights. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Health Programs and Partners Celebrate Record Progress, 35.8 Million Treatments in Fight Against Neglected Tropical Diseases in 2010

The Carter Center’s health programs enabled a record 35.8 million treatments in 2010 to protect against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in thousands of communities in some of the most remote and forgotten places in Africa and the Americas. Learn more »

Blog | Forum Identifies Solutions to Improve Cooperation Among Andean Countries and the United States

The Andean-U.S. Dialogue Forum, a citizens' forum created to identify and contribute solutions to multilateral problems and tensions among the Andean countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela) and the United States, has issued a report outlining a common agenda to improve cooperation among the nations. Learn more »

Blog | Nigeria, Niger Receive Carter Center Awards for Guinea Worm Eradication

The Carter Center Awards for Guinea Worm Eradication were presented to Nigeria and Niger during a special ceremony held Feb. 17, 2011, in Atlanta, Ga. The two countries, which share a border, join 14 other nations that have wiped out Guinea worm disease since The Carter Center spearheaded the international eradication campaign in 1986. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Observers Monitor Southern Sudan Referendum on Self-Determination

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Carter Center observers remain deployed across Sudan and in out-of-country voting locations as voting continues in the referendum on the self-determination of Southern Sudan. Here are images from across Juba on days one and two of voting. Learn more »

Blog | Sudan Referendum Begins Jan. 9; Observers Prepare to Deploy

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

More than 100 Carter Center observers will be deployed across Sudan and in eight out-of-country voting locations to witness voting in the referendum for the self-determination of Southern Sudan, as part of one of the Center’s largest observation missions. Most observers are currently being briefed in Juba, Sudan. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Prepares to Observe Sudan Referendum

The people of South Sudan will vote beginning Jan. 9 to decide whether they wish to remain unified with the North or to form a separate country. Hear more about the significance of the upcoming referendum, the challenges ahead, and the Carter Center's contribution to the process. Learn more »

Blog | Guinea Worm Eradication Campaign in Southern Sudan Makes Progress, Faces Challenges

Despite challenges posed by insecurity in Southern Sudan, the region continues to see major reductions in cases of Guinea worm disease. From January to September 2010, only 1,549* cases were identified compared to 2,523 cases over the same period in 2009. Learn more »

Blog | Long-Term Commitment to Eliminate River Blindness Brightens Future for Latin America

One-third of people living in onchocerciasis-endemic communities in Latin America are no longer at risk for the debilitating disease also known as river blindness, thanks to the hard work and long-term commitment of six endemic countries—and with the support of The Carter Center and other partners—officials announced today during the 20th Inter-American Conference on Onchocerciasis (IACO). Learn more »

Blog | Millions Mobilize Nov. 1-7 For Trachoma Treatments and Malaria Health Education in Ethiopia

Impoverished communities in Amhara Region, Ethiopia—the world’s most trachoma-endemic area—are harnessing an innovative and far-reaching approach to treating and preventing this blinding bacterial infection. Approximately every six months, rotating between the eastern and western halves of Amhara, The Carter Center, in partnership with the Ethiopia Ministry of Health and Lions Clubs International Foundation, mobilizes millions of people in one week. Learn more »

Blog | Voters Show Enthusiasm, Patience in Cote d'Ivoire Elections

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Outside a polling station in north Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, hundreds of people waited behind closed gates for voting to begin. Women and the elderly sat on chairs they had brought or on the ground. By the time our team of observers arrived at 10 a.m., three hours after polling should have begun, voters were growing anxious in the baking sun. Some had gotten there at 4 or 5 that morning. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center to Observe Historic Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea Elections Back-To-Back

The Carter Center is the only American nongovernmental organization observing the historic presidential elections in Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire, and among the handful of international observers present, we have been deployed longer and more extensively than anyone else. These elections represent the first openly competitive contests for both nations since the end of French colonial rule a half-century ago. Learn more »

Blog | Reservist Vets Need Help at Home

By Dr. Bornemann, director of the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have posed a unique set of psychological challenges to troops due to multiple tours of duty and a significantly greater prevalence of brain injury, among other factors. As a result, members of the military deployed in these wars have the highest rates of post-traumatic stress disorder on record. Learn more »

Blog | First Treatment for Trachoma in Nigeria Goes to Young Patient

In Aloshi village in central Nigeria, four-year-old David Nuhu stands quietly as a health worker measures his height against a brightly colored pole. The health worker will use the measuring stick to carefully calculate what dose of Zithromax® (donated by Pfizer Inc.) will safely treat the little boy’s trachoma infection. Learn more »

Blog | Signing Ceremony Takes Place at The Carter Center: Guinea Worm Eradication and River Blindness Elimination Receive Major Boost with US $1 Million Donation from OPEC Fund

Today, during a special ceremony in Atlanta, former U.S. President and Carter Center Founder Jimmy Carter received on behalf of The Carter Center two new pledges—$500,000 toward the Guinea Worm Eradication Program and $500,000 toward the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA)—from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), represented by His Excellency Director General Suleiman Jasir Al-Herbish. Learn more »

Blog | Soloist Fights Stigma of Mental Illness with Violin and Guitar

“The best way to overcome stigma is to learn that the man who sits in the next office suffers from depression or the neighbor you chat with on summer evenings is battling bipolar disorder. You know them; you’re not afraid of them…Together we can eliminate stigma and bring a better life. Learn more »

Blog | Journalism Fellows Explore Mental Health Issues, Fight Stigma

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter launched a journalism fellowship program in 1996 to increase accurate reporting of mental health issues as a way to fight stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses—some of the most serious, unrecognized, and under-reported health problems in the United States and worldwide. Learn more »

Blog | Guinea's Upcoming Runoff Election Critical to Country's Stability

Guinea’s upcoming runoff presidential election between candidates Cellou Dalein Diallo and Alpha Condé is critical to both the country’s stability and that of the West African region. Recognizing the importance of this electoral process, The Carter Center has maintained its presence in Guinea since May 2010, with long-term observers deployed throughout the country and reporting back to the Center. Learn more »

Blog | Aijalon Gomes Returns Home to Boston with Jimmy Carter

On August 27, American teacher Aijalon Gomes was reunited with his family in Boston after being imprisoned seven months in North Korea. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter had embarked on a humanitarian mission to obtain Gomes’ release after he was arrested last January and subsequently sentenced to eight years of hard labor and fined about $600,000. Learn more »

Blog | Homecoming: American Joyful, Relieved to Be Back Home After Long Ordeal

After seven months imprisoned in North Korea, American teacher Aijalon Gomes was reunited with his family this afternoon at Boston Logan Airport. The Carter Center delegation's plane landed at 2 p.m. today. President Carter embarked last Tuesday on a humanitarian mission to obtain Gomes release after he was arrested last January and subsequently sentenced. Learn more »

Blog | Journey to Liberia: Carter Center Staffer Reflects on Country's Mental Health Needs, New Initiative

By Jane Bigham, assistant program coordinator for the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program

Many Liberians suffer from trauma, depression, and other mental health issues following more than a decade of civil conflict. With only one psychiatrist in the entire country, and just a handful of nurses with mental health training, treating those who suffer from mental illnesses has been almost impossible. Jane Bigham, assistant program coordinator for the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program, reflects on her journey and what a new Carter Center mental health initiative will mean for the people of Liberia. Learn more »

Blog | Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Tours Atlanta Airport Exhibit

During a stopover at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, President and Mrs. Carter viewed, for the first time, the exhibit “Jimmy Carter: Georgia’s Native Son.” The Carters met with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and airport officials and enlightened a growing crowd with personal memories and behind the scenes insights. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Experts Publish Article on Obligations for Democratic Elections

A groundbreaking project to identify and foster concensus on common standards for what constitutes a genuinely democratic election is the focus of a recently-published article in Democratization by Carter Center Democracy Program Assistant Director Avery Davis-Roberts and Director David Carroll.  Learn more »

Blog | Public Radio International Highlights Judicial System in Liberia

Public Radio International's “The World” examines Liberia's struggle with land disputes, as citizens return home after the war to find others living on land they claim as their own, in a story aired Aug. 3. The story also features the Carter Center’s John Hummel, who explains the country’s need for both a modern legal system and tribal justice system. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Honored by Traditional Council of Liberia, Transitions to New Country Representative

The National Traditional Council of Liberia (NTC) recently honored Carter Center efforts in the country at a farewell ceremony for the Center’s outgoing country representative, John Hummel. Hummel was gowned in traditional clothing as a show of appreciation to him and The Carter Center for “its good will to the Liberian people,” describing him as “a son whom they will always miss.” Learn more »

Blog | 'Jimmy Carter: Georgia's Native Son' Exhibit Opens at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport

The next time you are waiting for a flight at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, visit a president, and get to know “Jimmy Carter: Georgia’s Native Son.” This large exhibit flanks both sides of the corridor between Security and Concourse T and is packed with rare photos, art, and artifacts giving viewers a snapshot of President Carter’s life as a peanut farmer, a romantic, a politician, a president, a humanitarian, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Learn more »

Blog | Guineans Vote Peacefully in Country’s First Democratic Election Since Independence

Polls opened Sunday morning in Conakry to pouring rain, from which voters sought relief under trees and building overhangs. This was followed by a baking and relentless sun that lasted all day, as hundreds of people waited in line to vote across Conakry and Guinea. One voter told a Carter Center observer that she was in line for more than eight and a half hours. Learn more »

Blog | Guineans Enthusiastic for Sunday's Election; Preparations Continue

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Through the open second-story window of a mayor’s office outside Conakry, Guinea, came the sounds of hundreds of people passing by, some blowing on whistles and shouting for candidates, others riding in or on cars with horns and speakers blaring. Learn more »

Blog | Guinea Elections: Carter Center Long-Term Observer Blogs From The Field

By Peter Blair, a long-term observer for the Carter Center’s election observation mission in Guinea

Peter Blair is a long-term observer (LTO) for the Carter Center’s election observation mission in Guinea.  Blair graduated with a degree in politics from the University of Nottingham, interned with the Carter Center’s Conflict Resolution Program, and worked as a media and communications assistant for Oxfam Ireland. Learn more »

Blog | Andean-U.S. Forum Meets in Peru

The Andean-U.S. Dialogue Forum met in Lima, Peru, on June 1-2 to develop a common agenda to address problematic issues among the represented countries. The forum, which consists of influential citizens from a variety of sectors within each country, is designed to provide crucial support and reinforcement of diplomatic efforts through a civil society process. Learn more »

Blog | Voice of America Features Carter Center's Access to Justice Project in Liberia

The Carter Center's new initiative to help Liberia’s indigenous leaders manage local disputes was recently featured by Voice of America. The Center’s efforts follow a 15-county consultation on the rule of law with traditional leaders in 2009, and a request from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Traditional Council for help strengthening the capacity of local leaders. Learn more »

Blog | Ethiopian Medical Student Travels Far to Perform Trichiasis Surgery

Mekuria Amare, a health officer in the North Gondar Zone of Ethiopia, is currently completing his clinical training at Gondar University to become a medical doctor. Mekuria initially received training as a health officer, providing him the opportunity to provide general health care to a rural population. Learn more »

Blog | Delegation Observes Challenges to Electronic Voting Technologies in Philippines

By Avery Davis Roberts, assistant director, Carter Center Democracy Program, and Amber Davis, assistant project coordinator, Carter Center Democracy Program

The Carter Center deployed a limited observation mission to observe the use of voting technology to the Philippines’ May 10 election as part of its Democratic Election Standards project, which includes addressing the challenges of observing electronic voting technologies. Learn more »

Blog | Fighting River Blindness in Cameroon: Navigating Mud, Biting Flies, and Torrential Rains

By Kelly Callahan, assistant director of program support for the Carter Center’s Health Programs

Kelly Callahan, assistant director of program support for the Carter Center’s Health Programs, blogs from a river blindness-endemic village in western Cameroon, where she is assessing Carter Center and national program efforts to combat the devastating parasitic infection. Learn more »

Blog | Impact Felt from Recent African Regional Conference on the Right of Access to Information

Impact from the Carter Center’s African Regional Conference on the Right of Access to Information, held in Ghana in February, is still being felt around the African continent as stakeholders work to advance the right and foster communication about remaining challenges. Learn more »

Blog | Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Carter Center Experts Brief Ambassadors Circle Members in Atlanta

More than 140 Ambassadors Circle members and friends are gathered at The Carter Center in Atlanta for the 2010 Annual Executive Briefing and Presidential Reception today. The two-day event, featuring firsthand updates from the Center’s peace and health experts, kicked off with an opening evening reception April 22 followed by Conversations at The Carter Center, “Improving the Lives of Women." Learn more »

Blog | Elections Begin in Sudan; Carter Center Observes

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

In Sudan, people across the country began voting on Sunday. Here are images from the first two days of balloting. This is the 78th election observed by The Carter Center. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Deploys Observers Throughout Sudan; Voting Begins Sunday

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director, Communications Department

Sudan’s historic elections, the country’s first in 24 years, begin on Sunday and will include nearly one week of voting and counting the ballots.  The Carter Center deployed approximately 70 observers to Sudan’s 25 states. Campaigning officially ended today, and in Khartoum, election materials were packed up. Learn more »

Blog | Jimmy Carter to Lead Delegation to Observe Sudan Elections

The Carter Center announced today that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Algerian Foreign Minister and member of the Elders Lakhdar Brahimi, Judge Joseph Warioba, and Carter Center President and CEO Dr. John Hardman will lead the Center’s international election observation delegation to observe Sudan’s elections, which are scheduled to begin on April 11. Learn more »

Blog | Cote d'Ivoire Elections Face Challenges, Carter Center Remains Engaged

Recent political events in Cote d’Ivoire introduced a serious disruption, hopefully temporary, of election preparations and demonstrated how easily the West African country could slide back into conflict. Elections there have been delayed several times; The Carter Center has been the only international election observation group present during the entire process and has deployed teams of observers for different phases. Learn more »

Blog | Carter Center Hosts Annual Health Program Reviews

The Carter Center is hosting its 2009 health program reviews March 23-31, 2010, with experts from around the world –including representatives from partner organizations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lions Clubs International, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – gathered in Atlanta to assess program status and adopt recommendations for the coming year. Learn more »

Blog | Delegation Observes Village Elections in China

A small Carter Center delegation is in China this week to advance the Center’s programming efforts there. The Center has worked to help standardize the vast array of electoral procedures taking place in local communities and foster better governance for more than a decade, at the invitation of the Chinese government. Learn more »

Blog | Experts to Discuss Recent Crises of Democracy in the Western Hemisphere on March 15

A series of experts, including Carter Center Americas Program Director Jennifer McCoy and former Latin American leaders, will convene on March 15 at Georgia State University (GSU) to analyze recent democratic crises in the region, including the Honduran coup and recent events in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Learn more »

Blog | Join Us for Conversations on Wednesday, March 10

<p>In his new book, “Wars, Guns, and Votes,” Oxford economist Paul Collier argues that the international community – presumably including The Carter Center – focuses too much on holding elections and ignores the underlying problems of insecurity and lack of checks and balances essential for democratic development. Collier will discuss his concerns during a Carter Center Conversation on Wednesday from …</p> Learn more »

Blog | Winter Weekend Auction Raises $1,322,300 for Carter Center Peace, Health Initiatives

The Carter Center's annual Winter Weekend auction, held Feb. 27 at Port St. Lucie, Fla., raised $1,322,300 — the second-highest amount raised in the event's history — to benefit the not-for-profit Center’s initiatives to advance peace and health worldwide. The highest bid items at the fundraiser were two original paintings by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, which sold for $290,000. Learn more »

Blog | Andean-U.S. Forum Aims to Strengthen Relations

For the past two days at The Carter Center, influential nongovernmental participants from the United States and the five Andean countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia have gathered for a dialogue aimed to strengthen the historically difficult U.S.-Andean relations and cooperation. Learn more »

Blog | Community Legal Advisors Help Ensure Rural Citizens Have Access to Justice

Working with monitors from the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), The Carter Center supports legal advice services in marginalized rural communities through a network of 32 Community Legal Advisors (CLAs) in eight counties. Learn more »

Blog | Jimmy Carter, Carter Center Staff Focus on Historic Sudan Elections

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with Sudanese officials to urge peace and stability in the nation as it prepares for its first multi-party elections in 24 years in April, which the Carter Center's international election observation team will monitor. Learn more »

Blog | Fighting Guinea Worm in Molujore Village, Southern Sudan

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Central Equatoria State Governor Clement Wani Konga, and Commissioner Clement Maring Samuel today urged intensification of efforts to wipe out Guinea worm disease, a waterborne parasitic infection, in the remote village of Molujore, Terekeka County, Southern Sudan. The village visit was followed by a press conference at the Assembly Hall in Juba, with representatives from Sudan's Ministry. Learn more »

Blog | John Stremlau for CNN.com & Mandela Inspires

On the twentieth anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from a South African prison, Carter Center Vice President for Peace Programs John Stremlau writes for CNN.com that “Mandela must continue to embody the roles for South Africans that Washington, Lincoln, and King serve in protecting and advancing democracy in America. Learn more »

Blog | Southern Sudan: Guinea Worm’s Final Frontier

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, are in Sudan—the world’s most Guinea worm-endemic country—to personally appeal for completing eradication of the crippling waterborne parasite as soon as possible and to urge peace and stability in the nation as it prepares for its first multi-party elections in 24 years in April, which the Carter Center’s international election observation team will monitor. Learn more »

Blog | Access to Information is a Powerful Tool and Fundamental Human Right

The African Regional Conference on the Right of Access to Information began Sunday in Accra, Ghana. More than 130 participants arrived from 20 African countries as well as Mexico, Canada, India, Australia, and the United States. Learn more »

Blog | Electoral Reform in Nigeria: Drawing on Health Partnership Successes

The Carter Center has deep roots in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and one plagued by poisonous politics. Jimmy Carter’s 1978 visit was the first time a U.S. president visited an African state. The Carter Center has worked there since 1988 to eradicate or control neglected diseases like Guinea worm and river blindness. Learn more »

Blog | Day Six: Final Bolivia Election Journal Updates From the Field

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Carter Center Bolivia Field Office Director Nicolás Fernández Bravo talks about the Center’s findings on election day and the challenges ahead for Bolivia. Learn more »

Blog | Election Day (Day 5): Bolivia Election Journal Updates From the Field

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Marcelo Varela, associate director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program, talks about election day in Bolivia. Learn more »

Blog | Day Four: Bolivia Election Journal – Updates From the Field

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Listen to Carter Center observers Daniel Barnes and Angela Lederach talk about the reception they have received so far as election observers in Bolivia. Learn more »

Blog | Day Three: Bolivia Election Journal – Updates From the Field

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Watch Barnes and Lederach as they talk about the day's activities and their preparation for election day. Carter Center observers Daniel Barnes and Angela Lederach deployed this morning to Cochabamba, a city that has …</p> Learn more »

Blog | Day Two: Bolivia Election Journal – Updates From the Field

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

In La Paz, Bolivia, colorful election graffiti and signs may be found on most available spaces along the winding road that leads upward to the city of El Alto. President Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, enjoys overwhelming popularity in La Paz. He is running for a second term in office, courtesy of an article in the country’s new constitution approved by referendum in January that allows him to seek re-election. Learn more »

Blog | Day Two: Last Official Day of Campaigning

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Today, on the last official day of campaigning before Sunday’s elections, rallies were held throughout Bolivia.  Drummers and dancers (video), joining thousands of supporters (photos, below), show their enthusiastic support during a large rally in El Alto for Evo Morales. Learn more »

Blog | Day One: Bolivia Election Journal – Updates From the Field

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Watch a brief video of Carter Center long-term observers talking about their work in Bolivia and the country’s new biometric voter registration process. Learn more »

Blog | Dispatch From Bolivia: The Carter Center Blogs From the 2009 Presidential and Legislative Elections

Join the Carter Center's Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information, on the ground in Bolivia, as she blogs daily through Dec. 7 about the presidential and legislative elections, their importance for the Latin American country, and the Carter Center's role in the process. Learn more »

Blog | Election Day in Lebanon: Carter Center Observers Monitor Polling Sites

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

A multinational Carter Center delegation observed Lebanon’s June 7 parliamentary elections, monitoring polling sites throughout the country’s 25 qadas (districts). Led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Yemini Prime Minister Abdulkareem Al-Eryani, the 60 member delegation included elected officials, electoral and human rights experts, regional specialists, and political and civic leaders from more than 20 countries in North America, Africa, Europe, South America, Asia, and the Middle East. Learn more »

Middle East Dispatches

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter visits Syria, Israel, West Bank, and Gaza. Learn more »

Blog | June 10: Deborah Hakes Blogs From the 2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Deborah Hakes is assistant director of public information for The Carter Center. For the past week and a half (and for weeks before I arrived), the Carter Center office for the elections was a scene of constant intense activity at all hours of a day. Learn more »

Blog | June 9: Deborah Hakes Blogs From the 2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

I’ve been sharing my experiences with you from Lebanon for the past week and thought it was also important to share a few of the many other voices whose hard work made the election observation mission possible. Learn more »

Blog | June 8: Deborah Hakes Blogs From the 2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections

Things are wrapping up here for this phase of the Carter Center’s election observation mission to Lebanon. Our long-term observers will remain deployed to monitor the post-election processes. Learn more »

Blog | June 7: Deborah Hakes Blogs From the 2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

The long lines surprised all of us. They wound down stairs and through the hallways of elementary schools, municipal buildings, and other polling sites where we visited. It made walking from polling station to polling station a very crowded affair. The voters seemed in good spirits though, often cheering and yelling “Jimmy Carter!’ when they realized just which international observers were there. Learn more »

Blog | June 6: Deborah Hakes Blogs From the 2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

It is the eve of Lebanon’s parliamentary elections and things seem quiet. Our observers were deployed yesterday, and they continue regular check-in calls to let us know that they are safe. Meanwhile, the core staff in Beirut are finalizing preparations for tomorrow – election day Learn more »

Blog | June 5: Deborah Hakes Blogs From the 2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Today, I headed south to Lebanon’s border with Hrair Balian, the director of the Conflict Resolution Program at The Carter Center, to be briefed by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and to see what the pre-election environment was like there. Learn more »

Blog | June 4: Deborah Hakes Blogs From the 2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

Across Lebanon today, more than 11,000 polling station workers could cast their ballots early for the parliamentary elections. I traveled to Baabda, a town in the mountains southeast of Beirut, to watch the process. Baabda has six seats being contested in these elections, and per Lebanon’s complicated distribution of parliamentary seats by religion, three will be filled by Maronite Christians, two by Shia Muslims, and one by a Druze. Learn more »

Blog | June 3: Deborah Hakes Blogs From 2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections

By Deborah Hakes, assistant director of public information for The Carter Center

I’ve only been in Beirut, Lebanon, for 24 hours, but I can already tell that the parliamentary elections to be held this coming Sunday are going to be a fascinating process, and I am thrilled to be a part of it. The world is watching what happens here, and I will get to see it firsthand. I’ll do my best to share what I see with you. Learn more »

Blog | The Carter Center Conflict Resolution Program: Q&A With Hrair Balian

Hrair Balian, director, Conflict Resolution Program, joined The Carter Center in 2008. Balian oversees the program’s efforts to monitor conflicts around the world and coordinates the Center’s cross-program efforts in the Middle East. He is also an adjunct professor at the Emory University Law School, teaching an advanced international negotiations seminar. Learn more »

Blog | Mental Health Parity: A Q&A with Carter Center Mental Health Program Founder, Rosalynn Carter

In light of the recent passage of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, Mrs. Carter sat down to discuss what has changed since she began her advocacy work and what still can be done for people living with mental illnesses. Learn more »

Blog | Combating Stigma, Building Understanding: A Q&A with Carter Center Expert Rebecca Palpant

With help from the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, journalists on four continents are working to reduce stigma and raise awareness about mental health and mental illnesses in their communities. Learn more »

Blog | The Carter Center Partners with the African Union: A Q&A With David Pottie, Associate Director, Carter Center Democracy Program

The Carter Center and the African Union (AU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on July 29, 2008, at the AU Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The MOU will enable the Center to work closely with the AU in areas such as election monitoring, human rights, and strengthening democracies. Learn more »

Blog | The Nepal Elections and The Carter Center: A Q&A With David Pottie, Associate Director, Carter Center Democracy Program

The constituent assembly election is a central feature of Nepal’s ongoing peace process and was agreed to by all parties in the Nov. 21, 2006, Comprehensive Peace Accord. The elections will create a representative body charged with drafting a new constitution for Nepal and give the people of Nepal their first opportunity to speak out and express their views on the future direction of the country. Learn more »

Blog | Political Reform in China: Q&A with Yawei Liu, director, Carter Center China Program

What struck me most about the country is not how the people have changed:  it is how the government has changed because of people.  The government seems to be more keenly aware of the people’s needs, of the growing gap between the rich and the poor, of the international pressure on China to change its policies on issues such as environmental pollution, global warming, energy saving, and of its own source of legitimacy. Learn more »

Blog | Q&A with Laura Neuman on Access to Information: A Fundamental Right

Access to information is a fundamental right. Allowing people to seek and receive public documents serves as a critical tool for fighting corruption, enabling citizens to more fully participate in public life, making governments more efficient, encouraging investment, and helping persons exercise their fundamental human rights. For this reason, The Carter Center is actively involved with governments and civil society. Learn more »

Blog | Mental Illness Prevention: Interview with Thomas H. Bornemann, Ed.D., Director of the Carter Center Mental Health Program

In this interview, Dr. Thom Bornemann, director of the Carter Center Mental Health Program, discusses the importance of early screening and intervention, and the current challenges to mental health prevention efforts. Learn more »

Blog | Pakistan Crisis Q&A With Karin Ryan, Carter Center Human Rights Program Director

The Carter Center, since 2003, has warned of the dangers that autocratic leaders would take advantage of the “war on terror” to suppress legitimate political opposition and basic human rights. What General Musharraf has done is to try to wipe away the results of decades of effort by human rights and judicial leaders to restrain the powers of executive authority in Pakistan, which for half of the country’s history has been in the hands of the military. Learn more »

Blog | Two Palestines? What is Risked by a "West Bank first" Policy? Q&A with Middle East Experts

In the following Q&A, panel members from “Two Palestines? What is Risked by a ‘West Bank First’ Policy?” held at The Carter Center in July 2007, answer audience questions that remained following the event. Learn more »

Blog | Political Finance Reform and Media Mapping: An Expert Q&A With Shelley McConnell

In this Q&A, Dr. Shelley McConnell, senior associate director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program, discusses the groundbreaking media mapping project: its impetus, implementation, and hoped-for impact on democratization in the Americas. Learn more »

Blog | U.N. Human Rights Council: The Center's Role, New Body's Mandate in Expert Q&A

A new Human Rights Council for the United Nations was adopted March 15 by the U.N. General Assembly, replacing the Commission on Human Rights, originally established in 1946. In this Q&A, Karin Ryan, senior advisor, Human Rights Program, discusses the Center’s key role in the Council’s passage and what the Council means for global human rights. The new Council plans to elect its first 47 members May 9 and hold its first meeting June 19, after the Commission is disbanded June 16. Learn more »

Blog | Atlanta Journal Constitution Palestine Election Q&A With David Carroll

Former President Jimmy Carter will lead a team of 80 observers today in monitoring legislative elections in the Palestinian territories. The team hopes to provide “an impartial and accurate report” on elections that are as significant as they are controversial. One development that has raised eyebrows in the West: the political participation of Hamas, a group the United States considers a terrorist organization. Learn more »

Blog | Declaration of Principles and Code of Conduct: A Q&A With Democracy Program Director David Carroll, Ph.D.

Although election observation has existed for many decades, the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s triggered a dramatic expansion in the number of election observation missions. Hear from Carter Center's David Carroll who manages the Democracy Program's projects on election observation, civil society strengthening, and promotion of the rule of law. Learn more »

Blog | Q&A With Jennifer McCoy, Ph.D. Director, Americas Program

Governments have had a difficult time addressing the needs of the people, particularly low-income and marginalized peoples. As a result, satisfaction with democratic performance is eroding, even while support for the principles of democracy remains strong. High crime rates, poor public services, corruption, and chronic unemployment have made the promises of strongmen and populist candidates attractive to many voters. Learn more »

Blog | A Key to Democracy: Access to Information

In this Q&A, the Carter Center’s Laura Neuman, senior program associate, Americas Program, shares her insights. Access to information is one of the keys to democracy. Allowing people to seek and receive public documents serves as a critical tool for fighting corruption, enabling citizens to more fully participate in public life, making governments more efficient, encouraging investment, and helping persons exercise their fundamental human rights. Learn more »

Blog | Democracy and Dialogue: Venezuela Election Q&A

At the conclusion of the Carter Center’s work to help resolve Venezuela’s political crisis, Dr. Jennifer McCoy, director of the Center’s Americas Program, traveled to Caracas Feb. 24, 2005, to present the Center’s final report on the presidential referendum process. Before leaving, she and former Carter Center Caracas Representative Francisco Diez talked about the Center’s work there for the past two and a half years and the future of Venezuela. Learn more »

Blog | Expert Q&A: Considering U.S. Elections in the Context of International Election Standards

A Q&A with Dr. David Carroll, interim director of the Democracy Program, and Dr. Jennifer McCoy, director of the Americas Program on the 2004 U.S. Elections. Learn more »

Blog | Mental Health Symposium Spotlights New Programs To Support President's Report

Larry Fricks, a director in Georgia’s department of mental health, introduced an exciting new and successful concept in mental illness recovery at the Nineteenth Annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, Nov. 5-6, 2003. Learn more »

Blog | International Criminal Court Comes to Fruition

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court came into force July 1, 2002, some 50 years after the United Nations first called for the establishment of a world tribunal. The Carter Center and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter have been strong advocates for the ICC. Learn more »

Blog | Dr. Jennifer McCoy Reflects on The Carter Center's Mission to Cuba

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter made history in May 2002 as the first United States president, former or sitting, to visit Cuba since Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959. Among those accompanying him on The Carter Center delegation was Dr. Jennifer McCoy (pictured at left with Cuban healthcare workers), director of the Americas Program at The Carter Center and associate professor of political science at Georgia State University. A special trip de-briefing with Dr. McCoy follows. Learn more »

Blog | Q&A with President Carter at the University of Havana

The following is an excerpt and translation from the Cuban Newspaper, Granma. President Carter’s comments are a direct transcription from a videotape of his speech to faculty and students at the University of Havana, Cuba, on May 14, 2002. Where President Carter’s comments were inaudible, a translation of the interpreter’s translation was substituted. Therefore, it is important to note that this re-translation may result in some variation from what President Carter actually said. Learn more »

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