The Carter Center Health Programs
The Carter Center / Stephen Cord
"We believe good health is a basic human right, especially among poor people afflicted with disease who are isolated, forgotten, ignored, and often without hope."
— Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
The Carter Center, founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, has numerous successful programs in the areas of Peace, Democracy, Human Rights, and Health. In the area of global health, The Carter Center is notable for:
- Spearheading efforts to eradicate Guinea worm globally, with a more than 99% reduction in cases at the end of 2008, with eradication targeted for the end of the decade.
- Founding the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, which has identified seven diseases with potential for eradication. The Carter Center targets two potentially eradicable diseases (dracunculiasis and lymphatic filariasis) and three diseases identified by the task force for better control (onchocerciasis or river blindness, trachoma, and schistosomiasis.)
- Actively pursuing an integrated approach to health care, utilizing networks developed to educate against and treat one disease to introduce care for others.
All Carter Center programs rely heavily on local commitment and support, from village elders and local health care workers to national programs and ministries of health. The Carter Center collaborates extensively with other aid organizations, and benefits from the efforts of thousands of volunteers. The Carter Center's programs are made possible by the generous support of donors.
Carter Center Health Programs
- Guinea Worm Eradication Program
- Malaria Control Program
- International Task Force for Disease Eradication
- See website for additional Health Programs
Adapted with permission from the Carter Center website,www.cartercenter.org, February 2009.
- Emily Staub
- Associate Director, Public Information
- Press Liason to the Health Programs
- Phone: 404-420-5100
- Email: carterweb@emory.edu
- www.cartercenter.org/health/index.html