Quotes by

Paul Farmer

If you look just at the decades after 1934, you know its hard to point to really inspired and positive support from outside of Haiti, to Haiti, and much easier to point to either small-minded or downright mean-spirited policies. – Paul Farmer

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 cant get medical care or clean water. – Paul Farmer

I mean, everybody should have access to medical care. And, you know, it shouldnt be such a big deal. – Paul Farmer

Haiti is always talking about decentralization and nothing has been so obvious, perhaps a weakness, as the centralized nature of Haitian society as being revealed by the earthquake. I mean, they lost all these medical training programs because they didnt have them anywhere else. – Paul Farmer

But if youre 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. – Paul Farmer

Weve taken on the major health problems of the poorest – tuberculosis, maternal mortality, AIDS, malaria – in four countries. Weve scored some victories in the sense that weve cured or treated thousands and changed the discourse about what is possible. – Paul Farmer

The biggest public health challenge is rebuilding health systems. In other words, if you look at cholera or maternal mortality or tuberculosis in Haiti, theyre major problems in Haiti, but the biggest problem is rebuilding systems. – Paul Farmer

So I cant show you how, exactly, health care is a basic human right. But what I can argue is that no one should have to die of a disease that is treatable. – Paul Farmer

You cant have public health without a public health system. We just dont want to be part of a mindless competition for resources. We want to build back capacity in the system. – Paul Farmer

Anywhere you have extreme poverty and no national health insurance, no promise of health care regardless of social standing, thats where you see the sharp limitations of market-based health care. – Paul Farmer

It is clear that the pharmaceutical industry is not, by any stretch of the imagination, doing enough to ensure that the poor have access to adequate medical care. – Paul Farmer