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
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
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
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