We Must Carry on Paul Farmer ’s Work on Social Determinants of Health

Sub Saharan Africa has a population of 1.14 billion, yet just 24% of the population has access to safe drinking water. Credit: Stella Paul/IPSBy Ifeanyi NsoforABUJA, Mar 2 2022 (IPS) Paul Farmer, the legendary global health equity warrior, recently died in his sleep from heart-related complications at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Butaro, Rwanda, the university he co-founded. So many tributes have been written to Paul Farmer, and he deserves all the accolades bestowed on him posthumously. My tribute to Farmer is to amplify his teachings on the social determinants of health. It is crucial for health workers and health planners to take these on board to create comprehensive strategies for planning and delivering healthcare. One of Farmer’s famous quotes aptly describes this, “You have to look at what’s happening to the patient in front of you and think about ways to address social disparities. If there’s food insecurity, then you provide food when you provide care. Or if patients drop out of treatment, you provide transportation to the clinic, or you send community health workers to the patient”. I wholeheartedly agree. In 2019, I was at UGHE as part of an executive education for my cohort of the Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity at George Washington University. After our 10-day study at the university and the surrounding Butaro communities, I became even more convinced that healthcare without social determinants of health is ineff...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Headlines Health Poverty & SDGs Source Type: news