Partners In Health

If you haven’t heard of Partners In Health, you’ve probably heard of Paul Farmer, and the biography Mountains Beyond Mountains, which described his success in starting a health clinic in the poorest area of Haiti. Since the devastating earthquake in January, Partners in Health has been crucial to providing medical services to homeless and displaced Haitians, many of whom are still struggling to get back on their feet. And they continue to grow their medical work in Peru, Russia, Malawi and other countries around the world.

In their words:
“We provide a preferential option for the poor in health care by establishing long-term relationships with sister organizations based in poor settings. Partners In Health has two overarching goals: to bring modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair. We draw on the resources of the world’s leading medical and academic institutions and on the lived experience of the world’s poorest and sickest communities. We are dedicated to providing the highest level of clinical care possible while alleviating the crushing social and economic burden of poverty that creates obstacles to health.

At its root, our mission is both medical and moral. It is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When our patients are ill and have no access to care, our team of health professionals, scholars, and activists will do whatever it takes to make them well – just as we would do if a member of our own families, or we ourselves, were ill. We stand with our patients, some of the poorest and sickest victims of poverty and violence, in their struggle for equity and social justice.”

Partners in Health is making huge strides in health care for the world’s most needy communities, and changing the way that the global health community treats the poor.

Support Partners in Health by voting for them to become a finalist in our Better to Give contest.