Jimmy Carter: "I'd Like to See the Last Guinea Worm Die Before I Do."
Source: Slate
In a touching and surprisingly funny moment during todays press conference discussing his cancer diagnosis, former President Jimmy Carter said, when asked about his remaining priorities, "Id like to see the last Guinea worm die before I do."
It may very well happen. As Carter noted, there are only 11 known cases of Guinea worm left in the world, in Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, and South Sudan, down from 3.6 million people suffering from the disease when the Carter Center began its campaign against it in 1986.
The painful condition is caused by a long, threadlike worm that grows in a persons bodyusually in joints and extremitiesafter being ingested through contaminated water. The worms can grow to up to 3 feet long and emerge agonizingly through lesions in the skin. While usually not fatal, the disease can be debilitating for months on end.
Whats particularly impressive about the anti-Guinea worm campaign is that its been accomplished without any new medical or technological breakthroughs. Theres still no cure for Guinea worm, and the only way to treat it is agonizingly low-tech: The exposed part of the worm is wrapped around a stick and slowly pulled out. Rather than curing the disease, the Carter Center, working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and national health ministries, worked to educate communities about how the disease spreads and to provide water filtration methods. In an interview with NPR earlier this year, Carter said his center had chosen to focus on the disease because it was in such remote villages that no one wanted to take on the task. So we decided to take it on. In part because of these efforts, a disease that was once endemic in 31 countries in Asia and Africa is likely to be the second human disease after smallpox to be completely eliminated.
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Read more: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/20/jimmy_carter_i_d_like_to_see_the_last_guinea_worm_die_before_i_do.html
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)Gothmog
(145,619 posts)LongTomH
(8,636 posts)Accent the 'not conventionally.'
ancianita
(36,137 posts)TubbersUK
(1,439 posts)DesertFlower
(11,649 posts)an afterlife and reincarnation jimmy will probably continue doing good things from the other side.
840high
(17,196 posts)JohnnyLib2
(11,212 posts)And he continues to lead and teach.
midnight
(26,624 posts)LuckyLib
(6,820 posts)to the well-being of others. I am privileged to have lived to know an individual who has worked tirelessly for improvement of the human condition. An exemplary human being.
mountain grammy
(26,655 posts)with no medicine, just education and a water filter. Remarkable!
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I so admire him, more and more.
Hekate
(90,829 posts)May Jimmy Carter indeed live to see this dreadful disease eradicated.
My heart is just so full in this moment.
shanti
(21,675 posts)ended suffering for many many people in africa.
Beta Male
(52 posts)Can you imagine GWB showing such grace in the face of Death? HA!
GP6971
(31,220 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,426 posts)Thanks for the thread, bananas.
GP6971
(31,220 posts)PumpkinAle
(1,210 posts)wonderful human being.
I hope you do see the last guinea worm die too sir.
DemByDefault
(40 posts)One of the very few true civil servants whom I admire and respect. I wasn't alive just yet during his administration, but it really frosts me to hear the vile rhetoric thrown around about the man from all the knuckle-dragging right wing mouth breathers all the time.
I hope his final days are peaceful and full of joy.
Marty McGraw
(1,024 posts)A google image of it?!!
Thank you...
Botany
(70,589 posts)In an interview with NPR earlier this year, Carter said his center had chosen to focus on the disease because it was in such remote villages that no one wanted to take on the task. So we decided to take it on.
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,829 posts)thanks to the OP for sharing the story, too.
niyad
(113,581 posts)Ilsa
(61,698 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)nsd
(2,406 posts)It was human and generous and thoughtful, and just beautiful.
lostnfound
(16,191 posts)Because you care about people.
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)eridani
(51,907 posts)But as an ex-president, he is the best this country has ever produced, bar none.
TBF
(32,102 posts)a great humanitarian when all is said and done. I can't think of a greater honor. Godspeed, Mr. President.
wolfie001
(2,270 posts)Sad that the RW hate can't allow any appreciation. Not sad really, just that they're stupid knuckle-draggers.
lame54
(35,326 posts)blackspade
(10,056 posts)lark
(23,158 posts)If there's any man in my lifetime who was more saintlike, I've not heard of him. He's such an inspiration in the way he lived his life and his priorities. The world is so much better off because of his life. I'm really proud to have voted for him twice. Son of a bitch Bush should rot in hell for what he did with the hostages. Just another Bush traitor to the country, there seem to be many.
Paka
(2,760 posts)I am very proud to have worked on the Guinea Worm Erradication project as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ivory Coast back in the mid-nineties. It is indeed a malady that affects the poorest of the poor in remote villages. It is painful and terribly debiliting.
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)JEC is the coolest, most level-headed, sincere, loving and caring, and intellectual person I've ever known. God, I'm going to miss him when he finally goes to his final reward. The planet is in DIRE need of people like this. And nobody asked him or paid him to do any of this. Unbelievable human being.
liberal N proud
(60,346 posts)4lbs
(6,865 posts)The GOP, helping rich people get richer by leeching off the poor.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,219 posts)HFH has now constructed 800K homes around the world since 1976. They have a Jimmy and Roslyn Carter Work Project every year since 1984.