Listen to this PodcastMore 60-Second Health
"In 1983, when I went to Haiti, the wave of sentiment that crashed over me was not just, gosh, this is appalling—it’s unfair."
Famous for his health work in Haiti, physician Paul Farmer.
"And then you started looking at what are the chief causes of morbidity and mortality? And you started seeing, really, measles? Bacterial pneumonia? Malaria? Childbirth? But all these things have been worked out again and again."
Farmer, a Harvard professor who co-founded the nonprofit Partners in Health, explained at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting in Philadelphia, how that reaction should be an asset in the global battle for better health.
“If we don't have an equity strategy, then how can modern medicine and science participate meaningfully in responding to cancer in a globalized world? Same thing with cholera, same thing with AIDS, same thing with TB, same thing with hunger, on and on it goes…I believe science—scientists and doctors and nurses—ought to be at the forefront of that rights-based charge."
—Katherine Harmon
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
Also see Paul Farmer's Prescription for Restoring Health in Haiti--and Beyond
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4 Comments
Add CommentHell on earth(haiti).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAverage children per Canadain woman....1.1
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDeveloping country.....................5.3
Aftger countries get their act together on population contriol, I'll listen. They are humans with brains...use those brains or not...their choice.
Only Haitians can fix Haiti's problems. While we can "feel sorry" for them, we can't fix them. Way past time to just walk away....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy opinion: Unbiased education is the key for improvement. I read somewhere that only 10 or 15% of schools in Haiti were run by the government. All the rest are private (religious?). Anyway it is an uphill struggle. Same in the rest of the rest of the third world. Look at Ruanda and the other RiftValley states in Africa.
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