What the American public thinks is very important to the future of global health. Many people are moved by the idea that there is unnecessary suffering in the world, and we could do a lot to stop it. We have the technologies necessary to stop most of the suffering. Paul Farmer Read Quote
We have to design a health delivery system by actually talking to people and asking, ‘What would make this service better for you?’ As soon as you start asking, you get a flood of answers. Paul Farmer Read Quote
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. Paul Farmer Read Quote
I mean, everybody should have access to medical care. And, you know, it shouldn’t be such a big deal. Paul Farmer Read Quote
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 didn’t have them anywhere else. Paul Farmer Read Quote
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. Paul Farmer Read Quote
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. Paul Farmer Read Quote
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. Paul Farmer Read Quote
I critique market-based medicine not because I haven’t seen its heights but because I’ve seen its depths. Paul Farmer Read Quote
