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Real Lives, Real Change: The Hispaniola Initiative

Leading Journal Honors Carters’ Public Health Â鶹´«Ã½

The foremost journal of tropical medicine in the United States has published a supplement honoring the public health legacy of former President Jimmy Carter and the late First Lady Rosalynn Carter. In a demonstration of technical expertise and the respect Â鶹´«Ã½ carries in that field, the supplement features 16 articles authored or co-authored by Â鶹´«Ã½ experts. Learn more »

In Honor of World Malaria Day, Â鶹´«Ã½ Celebrates the Dominican Republic’s Receipt of PAHO’s Malaria Champions of the Americas Prize

In honor of World Malaria Day, Â鶹´«Ã½ celebrates the Dominican Republic Ministry of Health, which received a 2023 Malaria Champions of the Americas prize from the Pan American Health Organization for its notable progress in eliminating malaria in Los Tres Brazos neighborhood of the capital, Santo Domingo. Learn more »

Community Banks on End of Malaria

Maria de los Santos has had enough of malaria. De los Santos, who operates a tiny community bank in San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic, experienced fever, chills, and a less common symptom, severe itching, during a bout with the mosquito-borne illness. She kept the bank open and continued to look after her family despite being sick with a potentially fatal tropical disease. Learn more »

Hispaniola Makes Strides Against Disfiguring Disease

It was many years ago, but Mercedes Sola remembers when her illness came on. She was 30 years old and pregnant with her third daughter. Learn more »

Â鶹´«Ã½ Stands Out at Annual Tropical Medicine Meeting

Â鶹´«Ã½ sent a large contingent to the 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), held Oct. 18-22 in Chicago. Learn more »

Meet the Unbreakable Antoinette Sainfabe

Life is hard enough in Haiti, with its profound poverty, natural disasters, and troubled political history. Add to the mix an insidious tropical disease that causes permanent disfigurement, and the result is misery that defies description. Learn more »

Blog | Colonialism Has No Place in Global Health

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President, Health Programs, Â鶹´«Ã½; Kelly Callahan, M.P.H., Director, Trachoma Control Program, Â鶹´«Ã½; Dr. Emmanuel Miri, Nigeria Country Representative, Â鶹´«Ã½; Dr. Zerihun Tadesse, Ethiopia Country Representative, Â鶹´«Ã½

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 »

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

By Paige Alexander, chief executive officer of Â鶹´«Ã½

This month, I was pleased to sign the Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, signifying the Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s 100% commitment to work with dozens of countries, donors, and organizational partners to tackle these terrible diseases Learn more »

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

By Paige Alexander, Chief Executive Officer, Â鶹´«Ã½, and Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President-Health Programs, Â鶹´«Ã½

We at Â鶹´«Ã½ 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 »

Celebrating the Third Annual World NTD Day

Jan. 30, 2022, marked the third annual World NTD Day, highlighting the global community’s commitment to ending neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that cause immeasurable suffering among the world’s most marginalized communities. Together Â鶹´«Ã½ and our partners lit up the world as we celebrated hard-earned progress and took action to #EndtheNeglect and #BeatNTDs. 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 | 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 »

Drug Treatments Resume With Safety Measures

Mass drug administration, in which entire communities receive drug treatment to halt disease transmission, was interrupted or delayed, but intense work went on behind the scenes to develop sets of COVID-safe procedures. Learn more »

Director Melds Passion for Field with Science

Growing up, Greg Noland voraciously read National Geographic magazines. From his home near Dallas, Texas, Noland became fascinated with other cultures and seeing the world. Learn more »

Where the Road Ends, Volunteers Carry the Load

Dedicated service is common among community volunteers and health workers with whom Â鶹´«Ã½ partners, but Dorçelan Offre takes it to another level. Offre, 27, will do whatever it takes to help fight malaria in his native rural Haiti, even if it means going far beyond the end of the road. Learn more »

Duo Overcomes Borders and Barriers to Fight Diseases Together

In 2006, the International Task Force for Disease Eradication urged that action be taken to eliminate the mosquito-borne diseases lymphatic filariasis and malaria from Hispaniola. Despite a turbulent history of economic disparity, tensions, and bloodshed, both nations eagerly agreed to binational cooperation, and Â鶹´«Ã½ launched the Hispaniola Initiative to assist them. 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 »

Meet the Unbreakable Antoinette Sainfabe

Life is hard enough in Haiti, with its profound poverty, natural disasters, and troubled political history. Add to the mix an insidious tropical disease that causes permanent disfigurement, and the result is misery that defies description. Learn more »

Hopes Soar for Disease Elimination in HaitiÌý

As a team of health workers arrives inÌýChan Bon,Ìýa tiny mountainside communityÌýsouth of Port-au-Prince, Haiti,Ìýthe aromas of lush plants and cooking food hang in the airÌýwhileÌýclouds play hide-and-seek with the Caribbean sun. A smallÌýgroup of childrenÌýnoisily laborsÌýto free a makeshift plastic kite whose string is tangled in a tree.Ìý Learn more »

Meet Manuel Gonzales: ‘It’s Better to Prevent than to Treat’

Helping is in Dr. Manuel Gonzales’ nature. It’s not just what he does; it’s who he is. “My vocation is to help people and help my country,†said Gonzales, who became the national manager of the Dominican Republic’s successful Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program in April 2001. 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 | Â鶹´«Ã½ 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 »

Trust Greases Wheels in Race against Lymphatic Filariasis

Mirlande Joseph walks the blistering hot, dusty back alleys of Port-au-Prince, greeting people as if she were a politician running for re-election. “How are you? How is your family? Anyone sick? Did everyone take the medicine when we came by before?†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 »

Â鶹´«Ã½ Celebrates 500 Millionth Dose of Hope

Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2016 surpassed 500 million doses of medication distributed to fight neglected tropical diseases. Learn more »

Cross-border Cooperation a Prescription for Disease Control

Parasites and bacteria have no respect for international borders. Many international frontiers are marked by rivers and lakes; but the water fleas that host Guinea worm larvae, the mosquitoes that transmit lymphatic filariasis and malaria, and the flies that spread river blindness and trachoma don't care which side they're on. 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 Â鶹´«Ã½ expert and epidemiologist Dr. Gregory Noland to explain how fighting the disease in Hispaniola differs from strategies employed in Africa. Learn more »

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

Â鶹´«Ã½ 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.Ìý Learn more »

Adaptation Key in Director's Fight Against Parasites

In Guatemala 25 years ago, on a coffee farm situated at the slope of a volcano, Frank O. Richards Jr., M.D., sat under a thinly thatched roof talking with an old man. Chickens foraged on the dirt floor, and a mangy dog slept in the corner. Learn more »

Blog | Â鶹´«Ã½ Hosts Annual Health Program Reviews

Â鶹´«Ã½ 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 »

Tracking Fevers and Teaching Prevention: A Haitian Health Agent's Story

A crowd of children follow Jonel Mompremier, 27, as he travels from house to house in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. They giggle as the health worker asks the same question at every doorstep, "Does anyone at home have any fevers?" Learn more »

Battling Mosquitoes and Malaria in La Bomba, Dominican Republic

It's a Sunday afternoon in La Bomba barrio, a subdistrict of Dajabón, Dominican Republic, and the entire community can be found outside their clapboard and cement block homes to beat the stifling heat. Learn more »

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Â鶹´«Ã½ Delegation Tour Hispaniola to Support Elimination of Malaria and Lymphatic Filariasis from Caribbean

Efforts to eliminate malaria and lymphatic filariasis from the Caribbean island of Hispaniola were underscored Oct. 7-8 during a visit by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and a Â鶹´«Ã½ delegation. Learn more »

Microscope a Powerful Tool in Malaria Fight

Microscopist Marino Castillo pricks the finger of five-year-old girl Silvana Mayor and draws blood onto a glass slide. The girl's shirt is bright yellow, but her face is weary. Her mother says the girl has had a fever for several days, and the mother is worried that she has malaria. Learn more »