This disparity between what we profess and what exists is a blight on global society that is very hard to quantify or even to comprehend. The solution is not to punish the wealthy, of course, but to find ways to share with those in need in such a way that they learn how to improve their own lives. In a small way, we at The Carter Center have tried to address the challenge, and we decided long ago to concentrate on the poorest countries of all. In our health program, we deal with five major diseases, none of which still afflict the industrialized world. Let me mention just one of them, in which Sheik Zayed has been an invaluable partner.
Guinea worm is a disease of people who have no running water.
They drink out of stagnant ponds that harbor the eggs that produce the worms. In 1986, 3.5 million people suffered from Guinea worm, a horrendous disease that is painful to describe. We have now cut the sufferers down by 98 percent, to 70,000, two-thirds of whom are in southern Sudan. Because of the continuing civil war, we cannot get to many villages in that region. The main credit for this progress must go to the people in almost 22,000 villages who have corrected their own problem.