I think that looking forward it’s easy to imagine more constructive help for Haiti.
Category Archive: Paul Farmer
But as for activism, my parents did what they could, given the constraints, but were never involved in the causes I think of when I think of activists.
But if you’re asking my opinion, I would argue that a social justice approach should be central to medicine and utilized to be central to public health. This could be very simple: the well should take care of the sick.
Since I do not believe that there should be different recommendations for people living in the Bronx and people living in Manhattan, I am uncomfortable making different recommendations for my patients in Boston and in Haiti.
You can’t have public health without working with the public sector. You can’t have public education without working with the public sector in education.
I’ve been impressed, over the last 15 years, with how often the somewhat conspiratorial comments of Haitian villagers have been proven to be correct when the historical record is probed carefully.
Some people talk about Haiti as being the graveyard of development projects.
Civil and political rights are critical, but not often the real problem for the destitute sick. My patients in Haiti can now vote but they can’t get medical care or clean water.
I think we will see better vaccines within the next 15 years, but I’m not a scientist and am focused on the short-term – what will happen in the interim.
I’m one of six kids, and the eight of us lived for over a decade in either a bus or a boat.