It is with great sorrow that we learned of the death of our friend Dr. Paul Farmer. We would like to express our deepest sympathy to the entire team of Partners in Health and Zanmi Lasante, its Haitian branch. 

With the passing of Dr. Farmer, Haiti loses an ally who, all his life, made access to health care for the most vulnerable his main goal. While still a medical student at Harvard University in the early 1980s, he founded Zanmi Lasante in the rural community of Cange in Haiti’s Central Plateau. Since then, the institution has become a world-renowned hospital, serving a population estimated at more than 1.3 million people.

“Paul Farmer was a giant in every way. The first time I met him was at a forum on “Global Health” at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, where he was one of the panelists. His priority was the underprivileged, the neglected or forgotten territories,” said Fritz Louis, our director of programs in Haiti.

Zanmi Lasante is KANPE’s health partner in the community of Baille Tourible. With his help, we were able to create a cholera treatment unit in 2011, which has helped eliminate the bacteria in the area since January 2018. Currently, this structure has been transformed into an annex to our clinic that offers free health care to a population of more than 20,000 inhabitants.  

We can say that this is part of the legacy that our friend Dr. Paul Farmer left us. We thank him wholeheartedly.