Partner to the Poor

For nearly thirty years, anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer has traveled to some of the most impoverished places on earth to bring comfort and the best possible medical care to the poorest of the poor. Driven by his stated intent to "make human rights substantial," Farmer has treated patients—and worked to address the root causes of their disease—in Haiti, Boston, Peru, Rwanda, and elsewhere in the developing world. In 1987, with several colleagues, he founded Partners In Health to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care. Throughout his career, Farmer has written eloquently and extensively on these efforts.Partner to the Poor collects his writings from 1988 to 2009 on anthropology, epidemiology, health care for the global poor, and international public health policy, providing a broad overview of his work. It illuminates the depth and impact of Farmer’s contributions and demonstrates how, over time, this unassuming and dedicated doctor has fundamentally changed the way we think about health, international aid, and social justice.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Partners In Health.

For nearly thirty years, anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer has traveled to some of the most impoverished places on earth to bring comfort and the best possible medical care to the poorest of the poor. Driven by his stated intent to "make human rights substantial," Farmer has treated patients—and worked to address the root causes of their disease—in Haiti, Boston, Peru, Rwanda, and elsewhere in the developing world. In 1987, with several colleagues, he founded Partners In Health to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care. Throughout his career, Farmer has written eloquently and extensively on these efforts.Partner to the Poor collects his writings from 1988 to 2009 on anthropology, epidemiology, health care for the global poor, and international public health policy, providing a broad overview of his work. It illuminates the depth and impact of Farmer’s contributions and demonstrates how, over time, this unassuming and dedicated doctor has fundamentally changed the way we think about health, international aid, and social justice.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Partners In Health.

Contents

Foreword: He Stole My Necktie for the Poor
Tracy Kidder

Introduction: The Right to Claim Rights 1
Haun Saussy

Part 1. Ethnography, History, Political Economy

Introduction to Part 1
Paul Farmer

1. Bad Blood, Spoiled Milk: Bodily Fluids as Moral Barometers in Rural Haiti (1988)

2. Sending Sickness: Sorcery, Politics, and Changing Concepts of AIDS in Rural Haiti (1990)

3. The Exotic and the Mundane: Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Haiti (1990)

4. Ethnography, Social Analysis, and the Prevention of Sexually Transmitted HIV Infection among Poor Women in Haiti (1997)

5. From Haiti to Rwanda: AIDS and Accusations (2006)

Part 2. Anthropology amid Epidemics

Introduction to Part 2
Paul Farmer

6. Rethinking "Emerging Infectious Diseases" (1996, 1999)

7. Social Scientists and the New Tuberculosis (1997)

8. Optimism and Pessimism in Tuberculosis Control: Lessons from Rural Haiti (1999)

9. Cruel and Unusual: Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis as Punishment (1999)

10. The Consumption of the Poor: Tuberculosis in the Twenty-First Century (2)

11. Social Medicine and the Challenge of Biosocial Research (2)

12. The Major Infectious Diseases in the World—To Treat or Not to Treat? (2001)

13. Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Strengthens Primary Health Care (2004)
David A. Walton, Paul Farmer, Wesler Lambert, Fernet Léandre, Serena P. Koenig, and Joia Mukherjee

14. AIDS in 2006—Moving toward One World, One Hope? (2006)
Jim Yong Kim and Paul Farmer

Part 3. Structural Violence

Introduction to Part 3
Paul Farmer

15. Women, Poverty, and AIDS (1996)

16. On Suffering and Structural Violence: Social and Economic Rights in the Global Era (1996, 2003)

17. An Anthropology of Structural Violence (2001, 2004)

18. Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine (2006)
Paul Farmer, Bruce Nizeye, Sara Stulac, and Salmaan Keshavjee

19. Mother Courage and the Costs of War (2008)

20. "Landmine Boy" and Stupid Deaths (2008)

Part 4. Human Rights and a Critique of Medical Ethics

Introduction to Part 4
Paul Farmer

21. Rethinking Health and Human Rights: Time for a Paradigm Shift (1999, 2003)

22. Rethinking Medical Ethics: A View from Below (2004)
Paul Farmer and Nicole Gastineau Campos

23. Never Again? Reflections on Human Values and Human Rights (2005)

24. Rich World, Poor World: Medical Ethics and Global Inequality (2006)

25. Making Human Rights Substantial (2008)

Conclusion: An Interview (2009)
Paul Farmer and Haun Saussy

Acknowledgments
Works Cited
Editorial Note and Credits
Index