Updated

The private foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recognizing former President Jimmy Carter for his post-White House work on public health causes around the globe.

But the 88-year-old Carter on Thursday redirected the attention to physicians, public health workers and volunteers at the CDC and The Carter Center. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, opened the international human rights organization in 1982, a year after he left the presidency.

Carter described himself as "a traveling salesman."

He talked about going to countries where he meets heads of state and other leaders of government and business. He has helped negotiate agreements with those nations for programs that treat and prevent conditions like Guinea worm disease, malaria and river blindness that have long been eradicated in more developed nations.