Not long after former Merck & Co., Inc.* CEO Dr. Roy Vagelos announced the unprecedented donation of Mectizan to control river blindness—“as much as needed, for as long as needed”—former US President Jimmy Carter joined him for a visit to Chad in West Africa. The goal was to spread the news to leaders across the continent. “President Carter became our chief salesman in sub-Saharan Africa, where this disease is so prevalent,” Vagelos later recalled.
Carter’s advocacy didn’t end there. In 1996 The Carter Center launched its river blindness elimination program in Africa and the Americas including the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (known as OEPA). Together with country partners, The Carter Center supports the distribution of Mectizan, which resulted in the elimination of river blindness in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico so far. The Carter Center currently works to eliminate river blindness in Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda, and Venezuela.
Lymphatic filariasis was added to the MDP mandate in the late 1990s, and The Carter Center became an important partner in Ethiopia, Haiti, Nigeria, and Sudan, helping to protect millions from this infection.
Today The Carter Center campus is home to one of five “Sightless among Miracles” statues in the world. Artist R.T. Wallen created a sculpture of a young boy using a stick to guide a blind elder, which was once common in countries stricken by river blindness. The statue reminds visitors of the twin tragedies of river blindness: the loss of an adult victim’s independence and the heavy burden on a helping child. Due in part to President Carter’s long-standing and steadfast support, today this scene is increasingly rare.
President Biden declared January 9, 2025, to be the United States’ National Day of Mourning. MDP salutes President Jimmy Carter for his lifelong commitment to peace, health, and hope.
Pictured above, clockwise from top left:
- A Carter Center worker distributes Mectizan for prevention of river blindness in Guatemala (2009)
- President Carter and former Merck CEO Roy Vagelos talk with villagers in Chad in the early days of the Mectizan donation (1995)
- The iconic “Sightless among Miracles” statue on the grounds of The Carter Center (2023)
- President Carter and President Juan Manuel Santos celebrate the elimination of river blindness in Colombia (2013)
*Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey USA, is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada.