Partners In Health
Partners In Health (PIH) is a nonprofit organization, founded by Paul Farmer and Jim Yong Kim in 1987, that aims to deliver health and social justice to the world's poorest communities. Based in Boston, PIH addresses health-related, social, and economic needs in Haiti, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Russia, Boston, Lesotho, and Rwanda. In Haiti alone, PIH has been integral in the opening of six new or newly-renovated clinics and hospitals, where there are a combined 1,650 patient visits per day. By the end of 2004, 1,446 HIV-positive patients in Haiti's Central Plateau had been initiated on antiretroviral therapy thanks to the efforts of Partners In Health's.
PIH's community-based model has been pivotal to its success; thousands of community health workers (accompagnateurs) have been hired in PIH communities to aid in the prevention, monitoring, and socioeconomic efforts central to raising the standard of health. Since its inception, PIH has worked tirelessly to challenge the status quo, which maintained that AIDS and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis were simply too expensive to treat in communities where resources are scarce. Now, many national and international organizations are beginning to see the successes of PIH as evidence that it does work, and those organizations are leading efforts to provide more equitable access to prevention, care, and treatment in the developing world.
The PIH mission aims to achieve two major goals: "to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair." In achieving these goals, Partners in Health is guided by five main principles, as part of a larger commitment to justice and equality:
- Access to primary health care
- Free health care and education for the poor
- Community partnerships
- Addressing basic social and economic needs
- Serving the poor through the public sector
One component of PIH's Program on Social and Economic Rights is the water project, which seeks to increase access to safe drinking water by building or renovating existing water systems and by teaching local communities how to use their water resources successfully. Most projects consist of building a spring cap, drilling a well, or installing a hydraulic pump. They may be augmented by restricting animal contact with water sites via barriers or digging separate water holes and by constructing reservoirs (Source: PIH Bulletin, Winter/Spring 2005). PIH believes in health as a fundamental human right, and not as a privilege for those able to pay, and in doing so, it addresses injustices that have resulted from socioeconomic disparities. In addition to treating people's medical needs, PIH provides local people with jobs and educational opportunities. Much more than a charity, Partners in Health works to raise the standard of living in the world's most destitute communities.
For more information about PIH, visit their website.