Paul Farmer and Partners in Health in Rwanda
PIH Offers Medical Care, Builds Infrastructure and Social Services
May 31, 2009
Dr. Paul Farmer is the founding director of Partners In Health (PIH), a public health organization with close ties to Harvard Medical School. Farmer, a medical anthropologist and physician, believes strongly that health care is a fundamental human right. Partners in Health works in Haiti, Peru, Russia, Lesotho, Malawi and with some of the most marginalized HIV patients in the US.
PIH provides modern health care services to the poor in some of the world's most remote places in three ways:
- Caring for the Sick
- (Re)building Public Health Infrastructure
- Training Local People to Do the Work
20 years after Farmer started his work in Haiti, Zanmi Lasante — PIH's flagship hospital — has become Haiti's largest health care provider with support from the Haitian Ministry of Health. The charity is also the largest employer in rural Haiti. In 2005 PIH was invited to Rwanda.
It is Critical That Local Governments and PIH Work Together
Located in sub-Saharan Africa the landlocked Rwanda is at the epicenter of the global AIDS pandemic. The country was especially hard hit since it went through a horrific genocide in 1994. Congo, Uganda,Tanzania and Burundi are the neighboring countries.
At the invitation of the Rwandan government Dr. Paul Farmer brought his community-based health care program to two rural districts in southeastern Rwanda in 2005. Inshuti Mu Buzima (“Partners In Health” in the Rwandan national language, Kinyarwanda) is the first PIH project in Africa. With support from the Clinton Foundation and the government of Rwanda, PIH rebuilt Rwinkwavu Hospital. Home to almost half a million people the district of Rwinkwavu had not a single doctor when PIH moved in. Just eight months later PIH had tested more than 30,000 people and enrolled nearly 700 on antiretroviral therapy.
Partners in Health's Mission in Rwanda
Friends of Farmer have joked that the "worst possible place one can imagine" is just right for his community-based health care approach. He tells an audience in Boston, that Rwanda is the perfect place for his organization. "This is the most exciting thing I've seen in 25 years. Here we're in a country that came from a terrible place and in just 12 years says it wants a national health program with 40,000 to 50,000 health workers." (Boston Globe, 04/08) Rwanda's progress on HIV/AIDS has been remarkable, with less than 3 percent of the population infected.
Though Haiti will always be his "true north," Farmer says it is not safe for his growing family. In 2008 Paul Farmer and his wife, Didi Bertrand, have made Rwanda their home base. Rwanda is considered safe now under the presidency of Paul Kagame, the former rebel leader who stopped the genocidal slaughter that erupted 15 years ago.
Creating Jobs in Haiti and Rwanda
"Good things happen when you create jobs," is one of Farmer's mantras that he repeats at his numerous speaking engagements. It is one of the top priorities of Partners in Health to address basic social and economic needs. PIH creates strong community partnerships by recruiting and training local villagers, many of them HIV patients themselves. Working as community health workers, they can support their own families. Farmer believes that it is healing for the health workers to visit others with chronic illnesses like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. They check on discharged patients and identify others at risk. They ensure that medications are taken on time, and work with the patients to resolve problems.
Partners in Health/Rwanda has 1,500 employees including 825 community health workers, which makes it the largest employer in rural Rwanda.
Watch Paul Farmer Speak about Partners in Health
(by Harvard World Media)
Paul Farmer's Hospital in Haiti Zanmi Lasante
Review of "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder (the story of Paul Farmer's life and work)
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