Category: Global Health & Development

By Dr. 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 […]

By Gabriella Corrigan On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Communities closed their doors, strapped on masks, and distanced themselves from friends and family. Most people believed these protocols would last for only a few weeks but two years later the impact remains: with more than six million […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President Cervical cancer, which is caused by certain strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), presents a significant public health threat to women on the African continent. The World Health Organization (WHO) found that all but one of the top twenty countries worldwide with the highest burden of cervical cancer […]

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President-Health, The Carter Center 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.  The Center’s Hispaniola Initiative works with […]

By Erin Thomas, Communications and Marketing Director of the American Heart Association About 50 million people in the United States are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease because they lack the most basic needs — healthy food, clean air and drinking water, quality education, employment and housing. These basic needs are identified as social determinants […]

By David Snyder The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed the nation’s public health system. The challenges exposed by the pandemic have underscored the need to invest in and develop comprehensive, flexible and interoperable data systems to track and address current and future infectious disease outbreaks. The recent multi-billion dollar government investment to modernize public health data […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to severely impact communities around the world, the responses to the pandemic vary greatly due to the lack of resources and infrastructure within many developing countries and resource-constrained communities.  This has led to some very creative solutions to reach those impacted with the […]

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President-Health, The Carter Center And Adam Weiss, Director, Carter Center Guinea Worm Eradication Program Despite the enormous challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, The Carter Center and its partner countries drew closer than ever in 2021 to eradicating Guinea worm disease. The work is still far from over, but the […]

With more than 3,000 homes in rural Alaska lacking piped water systems, sanitation remains a serious challenge in many remote communities. As COVID-19 reached Alaska, residents in these unserved communities became even more vulnerable to the spread of the virus. “Those communities that lack basic services have higher rates of skin infections, infectious diarrhea and […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President El Salvador, like other Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, faces significant challenges due to its fast-growing, aging population. In a recent article of ReVista – Harvard Review of Latin America, it was highlighted that the population over 60 years of age in El Salvador will represent 17 […]

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, M.P.H., Vice President-Health, The Carter Center, and  Gregory Noland, Ph.D., M.P.H., 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.  The Carter […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President The year 2020 was one of the most unprecedented years in history and 2021 did not result in the level of recovery that many anticipated. Both years continued to highlight the major issue we face with healthcare inequity and the disproportional impact it is having on impoverished communities. […]

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President-Health, The Carter Center, and Sarah Yoss, Associate Director of Special Health Projects, The Carter Center When The Carter Center partners with a country to eliminate a disease through its disease-specific programs or otherwise improve health, a related goal is to strengthen the overall health system of the partner country. Strengthening […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President While the health care system in Senegal is improving, there is still a tremendous need to address health disparities within the population. As a result, only 32 percent of rural households have access to regular health  care. Senegal has only around 3.1 nurses and midwives per 10,000 people, which makes […]

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President, Health Programs, The Carter Center 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 […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President More than 5 million men, women and children have fled Venezuela since 2014 because of violence, insecurity, and threats aggravated by lack of food, medicine and essential services – making it the world’s second largest refugee crisis, after Syria. The country’s healthcare, local-market, employment and food systems have […]

By Jenelle Williams, Director of Programs, Global Health Action GHA was founded on the belief that the key to improving local and global health is to train, educate, and empower individuals. This core value was put to the test in 2020 as COVID-19 locked down entire communities, exacerbated existing health and safety vulnerabilities, and threatened […]

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President-Health, The Carter Center and Eve H. Byrd, director, Carter Center 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 […]

By Charles Redding, CEO & President This past spring the country of India underwent a massive surge in COVID cases, almost exclusively as a result of the rapid spread of the Delta variant.  The numbers spiked to more than 400,000 daily cases this past spring and experts estimated that the true figure could be more […]

By Paige Alexander CEO, The Carter Center and Dr. Kashef Ijaz Vice President-Health Programs, The Carter Center 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 […]