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
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
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