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Paul Farmer: A Legacy in Global Health

Legacy in Global Health
In February 2022, the world parted with one of its most valued physicians and advocates. Dr. Paul Farmer was a man who dedicated his life, career and effort to provide medical care to developing countries struggling with poverty. At the end of his life, Dr. Farmer received various awards for his work, published a variety of books regarding global health and co-founded Partners in Health, a nonprofit organization to provide modern medicine to those in need. Those in humanitarian work and aid may only speculate what more Dr. Farmer would have accomplished if he did not lose his life so suddenly and hope that Farmer’s work can be a legacy in global health for future humanitarians.

Paul Farmer’s Start to Global Health

Dr. Farmer started with a passion for humanitarian work. After graduating from Duke University in 1982 with honors, Farmer achieved an M.D. and Ph.D. in anthropology at Harvard in 1990. Prior to achieving his Master’s degree and Doctorate, Farmer protested U.S. immigration policies that discriminated against Haitian refugees. Farmer also extended his effort to Haiti where he helped establish a community-based health project in 1983.

In 1987, Dr. Farmer co-founded Partners in Health (PIH), aiding clinics, education and training in developing countries. Since its founding, PIH has contributed to a multitude of initiatives and movements to support global health. In 1998, the organization launched the HIV Equity Initiative, a program that administers antiretroviral therapy to Haitian HIV-positive patients. The initiative would be a steppingstone for other major organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) to fund efforts against HIV. In 2003, the organization co-founded OpenMRS, a source to open medical records designed for use in developing countries.

Today, there are 15.8 million active patients using the platform in 40 countries. Following the Haitian earthquake in 2010, PIH organized a vaccination campaign for the growing threat of cholera in 2012. This effort would protect 50,000 people from the deadly sickness. PIH is only one Farmer legacy in global health and the organization will only continue to grow.

Farmer’s Work with MDR TB

One of Dr. Farmer’s notable efforts in global health was in 1999 when WHO appointed Farmer and PIH co-founder Jim Yong Kim to launch global treatment programs and effective antibiotic delivery to patients suffering from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB). The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded a grant of $44.7 million to PIH and Harvard Medical School for MDR TB research and with this fund Farmer was able to develop “individualized drug-therapy programs for patients in Haiti, Peru and Russia.”

Peru still benefits from the work that Dr. Farmer and other humanitarians have done for the international community. The World Bank recorded that in 2000, a year after Farmer began his work, the rate of tuberculosis incidences was 183 per 100,000 people. More than 20 years after Farmer’s initial work, tuberculosis incident rates went down to 116 per 100,000 people.

Haiti’s National Teaching Hospital

Farmer’s legacy in global health will live on in PIH and in the many people he helped. After the devastation that a 7.0 magnitude earthquake brought to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing thousands, Farmer and PIH provided emergency care and medical relief to Haitians who experienced the disaster.

The disaster caused the loss of 70% of public health buildings and 20% of the public health system’s clinical staff. Despite the odds against the aid workers and Farmer during the crisis, Farmer was able to coordinate the building of a new and larger national teaching hospital. In 2013, the creation of Build Health International (BHI) and the Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais (HUM) further expanded the hospital. Containing six operating rooms and with designs to hold 600 outpatients and emergency patients daily, the newly built hospital would help more than 1,500 patients daily by its second year. Today, that legacy in global health continues on as the hospital continues to grow and save lives.

Nearing the end of Farmer’s life during the pandemic, PIH launched initiatives in response to COVID-19 globally. While the world is still battling the pandemic, PIH and other organizations, people and groups can lead in Farmer’s example with his legacy in global health. With Farmer’s various achievements and efforts, Farmer’s work will continue to live on and help many more lives in the future.

– Michelanie Allcock
Photo: Flickr

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5 Fieldwork NGOs Fighting Global Poverty

Fieldwork NGOs Fighting Global PovertyFieldwork NGOs are non-government organizations that fight against global poverty directly within areas of need. Whether it be by building wells, establishing schools or educating local farmers, fieldwork NGOs take a hands-on approach to improve poverty-stricken communities worldwide. While there are countless organizations doing amazing work to fight against global poverty, this list highlights just a few. Here is a list of five fieldwork NGOs fighting global poverty.

5 Fieldwork NGOs Fighting Global Poverty

  1. The Water Project
    The Water Project provides clean drinking water to communities across sub-Saharan Africa. Importantly, the group focuses on creating reliable sources of clean water that are easy to access in terms of proximity. This includes building wells for groundwater, constructing dams to create larger local deposits and other similar processes. Once a resource is built for a community, the Water Project also makes sure to do maintenance checks to keep that resource functional. Currently, the Water Project is maintaining 1,294 clean water resources across sub-Saharan Africa. Today, the organization’s efforts are impacting 462,000 people worldwide.
  2. Child Empowerment International
    Child Empowerment International brings education to wartorn areas of civil unrest. This NGO makes its intent clear on its website: “Our Mission [is] to reduce poverty through education and empowerment.” To achieve this mission, Child Empowerment International establishes schools in areas of need, teaching leadership skills and ways to contribute to their local communities. Child Empowerment International primarily focuses on children in areas traumatized by war. So far, its efforts have been stationed across Sri Lanka and Uganda, with the intention of spreading aid elsewhere as the NGO grows. In Sri Lanka alone, there are 80 CEI schools and programs teaching more than 6,800 children in need. In Uganda, CEI programming provides 300 students with quality education services.
  3. Build Health International
    Build Health International is an NGO that builds health infrastructures in impoverished communities worldwide, all within the constraints of locally available resources. Build Health International creates architectural plans for hospitals, designing them to be cost-efficient while still high quality. In addition, this NGO focuses on using renewable resources, such as solar panels, to keep facilities energy efficient. While Build Health International primarily focuses on building hospitals, it also aids local workforces by providing short-term construction jobs. Build Health International emphasizes the importance of maintaining close relationships with assisted locals, adjusting health infrastructures to best suit community dynamics. Today, Build Health International has completed over 50 major projects across African, Haiti and Latin America.
  4. One Acre Fund
    One Acre Fund addresses the irony of a global phenomenon — that the majority of the world’s hungriest people are farmers. In remote communities across sub-Saharan Africa, the One Acre Project has a multi-step process in eradicating hunger and empowering rural communities. One Acre Fund not only provides seeds and tools to communities in need but also educates local farmers on agricultural techniques and market facilitation practices. This hands-on approach builds up communities for long term success, setting them on a self-sustaining path for sustenance and a chance for economic prosperity. Through the One Acre Fund’s aid, 809,900 rural families were assisted in 2018; as for 2019, the project number of families assisted is 925,000.
  5. Mercy Corps
    Mercy Corps is an NGO that applies an array of fieldwork to in-need communities all over the globe. This NGO was originally founded as the Save a Refugee Fund, determined to assist Cambodian refugees fleeing from the nation’s war and genocide. Over the course of nearly four decades, Mercy Corps has assisted over 220 million people worldwide. Mercy Corps educates farmers about agriculture and self-sustaining methods, helps local communities start and maintain viable businesses, provides programs to decrease inequality between women and men, and many, many more outlets for assistance. Mercy Corps provides these services to over 40 countries across the globe, from the islands of the Philippines to the war-torn regions of Iraq.

With thousands of NGOs providing fieldwork aid to communities worldwide, these five mentioned are just a small fraction of the overall picture. Improving one’s quality of life is a multi-faceted effort, as seen by these fieldwork NGOs fighting global poverty.

– Suzette Shultz
Photo: Wikimedia