Carter learned that half the village’s population was hobbled by the disease. The grotesque vision prompted him to expand the mission of his center, founded in 1982 to advance human rights, to public health. Nearly 25 years later, the Carter Center’s success in pushing the parasite to the brink of extinction is one of several achievements that today prompted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to grant the Carter Center this year’s $1 million Gates Award for Global Health.

Full Story: USA Today.