Paul Farmer
Paul Farmer
Paul Edward Farmeris an American anthropologist and physician who is best known for his humanitarian work providing suitable health care to rural and under-resourced areas in developing countries, beginning in Haiti. Co-founder of an international social justice and health organization, Partners In Health, he is known as "the man who would cure the world," as described in the book, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth26 October 1959
CountryUnited States of America
It would be great if people would acknowledge that the state of Haiti was because of the resources we took away.
Well, we've worked with our friends in Haiti to establish nothing short of a modern medical center in one of the poorest parts of that country.
I've been working in Haiti 28 years - I thought I'd sort of seen it... I've gone through a number of coups, the storms of 2008, I thought, you know, that I'd seen things as bad as they were going to get, and I was wrong.
It was apparent from the early 80s that in order to do something lasting and significant in Haiti we would need a springboard in the States.
I think that looking forward it's easy to imagine more constructive help for Haiti.
At the same time, it is obvious that clinicians in Haiti are faced with different, and, in fact, greater, challenges when attempting to treat complications of HIV disease.
Some people talk about Haiti as being the graveyard of development projects.
I can't think of a better model for Haiti rebuilding than Rwanda.
The biggest public health challenge is rebuilding health systems. In other words, if you look at cholera or maternal mortality or tuberculosis in Haiti, they're major problems in Haiti, but the biggest problem is rebuilding systems.
The idea that because you're born in Haiti you could die having a child. The idea that because you're born in you know Malawi your children may go to bed hungry. We want to take some of the chance out of that.
The workplace is often the most stressful place a person finds themselves in, employees and managers need to keep an eye out for signs of deteriorating mental health in fellow colleagues.
Due to the groundbreaking work of PIH, the global community has moved from asking 'should' antiretroviral treatment be provided to people living with HIV/AIDS in the poorest countries to demanding to know 'when' it will happen and 'how' to do it most effectively.
Even die-hard fans of the market acknowledge that TB care should be free. Why? Because it's an airborne disease and treatment equals prevention.
You look around the U.S., and the nature of the people who settled in New Orleans is such that you couldnt go to another part of the country and find that mixture. Thats one reason the ties are so strong.