Ed Kashi, Fatal CKDnT and Agricultural Workers

Chronic Kidney Disease of non-Traditional causes (CKDnT), once known as Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown causes, is a deadly epidemic decimating the world's agricultural workers and their families. Affecting 70% of the population in some communities, the disease has claimed at least 20,000 lives in Nicaragua and El Salvador since the start of the millennium. These images capture moments of hope, despair, work and play, joy and sorrow, birth and death. They are intended to intimately illustrate the multigenerational impact of CKDnT, to bring the plight of agrarian communities and the workers' lives into world view and give them a voice; to make this crisis resonate on a very personal, human level. After all, since nearly everyone in the world consumes the agricultural harvests from these countries, we must all be made aware of the shocking human cost associated with their production.