I’ve posted several links to TED, an organisation that brings together leading scientists, thinkers and designers committed to social change at an annual conference and a website where all the conference talks by are made available for free. I read about this today and thought I’d start off posting about the same thing. I’ve been checking out the work of photojournalist James Nachtwey the last couple of days, when I read about him at Lucas Mulder’s blog. The news are that James Nachtwey received the TED Prize last year. Aside from giving him a big chunk of money, as is often the case with such prizes, the TED prize more interestingly granted him a “wish to change the world.” His wish:

I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.

On October 3, TED and James Nachtwey will present his photographic news story “on LED screens on all 7 continents”. Here is the link to the story.

Update, October 6th
Nachtwey’s wish: Awareness of XDR-TB: Extremely Drug Resistant Tuberculosis

On October 3rd the story broke of XDR-TB (Extremely (some sources: Extensively) Drug Resistant Tuberculosis) that is now spreading throughout the world, “a new and deadly form of tuberculosis that is threatening to become a global pandemic.”

TB (tuberculosis) in its common form is a terrifying and deadly disease, but both preventable and curable. But due to insuficient treatment throughout developing countries, it has now mutated and taken on a new form for which there is no reliable cure. According to TEDBlog, wiping out normal TB before it mutates costs $20. Since you are more likely to catch TB if you are malnourished, living in crowded conditions or living in a refugee camp or shelter, or if you lack access to health care, TB is a disease of the bottom million – here is a link to a TED talk by Paul Collier entitled “4 ways to improve the lives of the “bottom billion”".

With the TED funds he received for his work documenting images of war, disease and political unrest across the globe for more than 25 years, James Nachtwey has covered the epidemic in countries across the globe including South Africa, Cambodia, Siberia, Rwanda and India, documenting the devestating effects of XDR-TB and the efforts to prevent it.

On being a witness and a photographer, James Nachtwey says:

Photographers got to the extreme edges of human experience to show people what’s going on. The believe your opinions and your influence matter. They aim their pictures at your best instincts: generosity, a sense of right and wrong, the ability and the willingness to identify with others, the refusal to accept the unacceptable.

My TED wish: There’s a vital story that needs to be told. I wish for TED to help me gain access to it and then help me come up with innovative and exciting ways to use news photography in the digital era.

The story is now out, but it needs to be spread to all corners of the world, so get updated, get involved, and spread the word.

Note: I tried embedding the XDRTB video here on my blog, but it seems it is temporarily unavailable on the youtube channel. I got the message that it is not available in my country, which puzzles me. I’ve written to XDRTB.org and informed them of the problem, so hopefully we will be able to watch it there and here soon. In any case, the video is available on the XDRTB.org site.