I recently read Tracy Kidder’s book “Mountains Beyond Mountains", about Boston’s own Paul Farmer. Farmer, a founder of the non-profit group Partners in Health (PIH), has dedicated much of his life to bringing medical care to areas of the world often neglected. From the rural hills of Cange, Haiti, to the inner depths of Siberia’s prisons, Farmer has worked tirelessly to bring aid and hope to those in need.
Much of Farmer’s work detailed in “Mountains Beyond Mountains” centers on the study and treatment of patients harboring the deadly M. tuberculosis pathogen. Worldwide, tuberculosis kills over two million individuals each year, and is often complicated by co-infections with AIDS. Sadly, many tuberculosis deaths occur in developing countries, or less-affluent countries, due in part from a disheartening variety of factors including the prohibitive cost or availability of medications in some countries.
At its core, “Mountains Beyond Mountains” details Farmer’s efforts to create a community-based medical clinic in the rural village of Cange, Haiti. Together, with local community members and PIH members, Farmer establishes Zanmi Lasante (Creole for Partners in Health), whose goal is to provide health care for all those in need, no matter the economic situation of the patient. Through his work at Zanmi Lasante, Farmer and his colleagues have been able to address important medical problems throughout the region, ranging from the treatment of AIDS patients to devising new strategies to better combat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis cases.
There are many reasons I would recommend this book, but most importantly “Mountains” reminds us of the economic challenges and disparities that still prevent millions of people from receiving adequate health care across the globe.
Michael – I completely agree with you… Mountains Beyond Mountains was a great book (as are Paul Farmer’s books – if you haven’t read Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor and/or Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues, they’re both worth reading…)
Also, if you’re in Boston on October 20th, there’s a Fundraiser to benefit Partners in Health and Cambridge Reads (at Upstairs on the Square @ 5 PM) and Tracy Kidder & Paul Farmer will be discussing Mountains Beyond Mountains (at Sanders Theatre @ 7:30 PM) – see Cambridge Reads(/a) for more info/ticket information…
Joshua
Not sure what happened with the formatting on that post… And it looks like the html link didn’t work (for more info, go to www.cambridgereads.org)
Thanks for the information Joshua.
Michael