Paul Farmer quotes - page 2

I'm one of six kids, and the eight of us lived for over a decade in either a bus or a boat. (Paul Farmer)
I'm not an austere person. View quote
Paul Farmer
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. View quote
Paul Farmer
The essence of global health equity is the idea that something so precious as health might be viewed as a right. View quote
Paul Farmer
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. View quote
Paul Farmer
If any country was a mine-shaft canary for the reintroduction of cholera, it was Haiti - and we knew it. And in retrospect, more should have been done to prepare for cholera... which can spread like wildfire in Haiti... This was a big rebuke to all of us working in public health and health care in Haiti. View quote
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 didn't have them anywhere else. View quote
Paul Farmer
The biggest public health challenge is rebuilding health systems. In other words, if you look at cholera or maternal mortality or tuberculosis in Haiti, they're major problems in Haiti, but the biggest problem is rebuilding systems. View quote
Paul Farmer
I feel it's part of my job to make the problems of the poor compelling. View quote
Paul Farmer
Some people talk about Haiti as being the graveyard of development projects. View quote
Paul Farmer
Everybody should be interested in access to primary and secondary education for everybody. (Paul Farmer)
I mean we grew up in a TB bus and I became a TB doctor. View quote
Paul Farmer
You can't have public health without a public health system. We just don't want to be part of a mindless competition for resources. We want to build back capacity in the system. View quote
Paul Farmer
The idea that because you're born in Haiti you could die having a child. The idea that because you're born in you know Malawi your children may go to bed hungry. We want to take some of the chance out of that. View quote
Paul Farmer
I can't think of a better model for Haiti rebuilding than Rwanda. View quote
Paul Farmer
I mean, everybody should have access to medical care. And, you know, it shouldn't be such a big deal. View quote
Paul Farmer
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. View quote
Paul Farmer
I think that looking forward it's easy to imagine more constructive help for Haiti. View quote
Paul Farmer
If you look just at the decades after 1934, you know it's 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. View quote
Paul Farmer