James Nachtwey: Use my photographs to stop the worldwide XDR

I was a student in the '60s, a time of social upheaval and questioning,

and -- on a personal level -- an awakening sense of idealism.

The war in Vietnam was raging, the Civil Rights movement was under way

and pictures had a powerful influence on me.

Our political and military leaders were telling us one thing

and photographers were telling us another.

I believed the photographers and so did millions of other Americans.

Their images fuelled resistance to the war and to racism.

They not only recorded history -- they helped change the course of history.

Their pictures became part of our collective consciousness

and, as consciousness evolved into a shared sense of conscience,

change became not only possible, but inevitable.

It puts a human face on issues which, from afar,

can appear abstract or ideological or monumental in their global impact.

What happens at ground level, far from the halls of power,

happens to ordinary citizens one by one.

And I understood that documentary photography

has the ability to interpret events from their point of view.

It gives a voice to those who otherwise would not have a voice.

My TED wish. There’s a vital story that needs to be told

and I wish for TED to help me gain access to it

and then to help me come up with innovative and exciting ways

to use news photography in the digital era.

Thank you very much.

[ 10.3.08 -- The story breaks. ]

[ "I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony." ]

[ South Africa ]

[ This is happening now. ]

[ Cambodia ]

[ Swaziland ]

[ One person dies every 20 seconds. ]

[ Thailand ]

[ An ancient disease is taking on a deadly new form. ]

[ Siberia ]

[ Lesotho ]

[ Tuberculosis: the next pandemic? ]

[ India ]

[ TB is preventable and curable, ]

[ but it is mutating due to inadequate treatment. ]

[ XDR-TB: ]

[ extreme drug resistant tuberculosis. ]

[ There is no reliable cure. ]

[ Patients often die within weeks of diagnosis. ]

[ 49 countries have reported XDR-TB. ]

[ XDR-TB is a critical threat to global health. ]

[ Extreme outbreak, suffering, affliction ]

[ Extreme loss, pain, pandemic ]

[ Extremely preventable. ]

[ XDR-TB. ]

[ We can stop this now. ]

[ Spread the story. Stop the disease. ]

[ Go to XDRTB.org now. ]

[ XDRTB.org: we are the treatment. ]

[ We are the treatment. ]

[ Made possible through the kind support of BD. ]