Humanitarian doctor Paul Farmer dies at 62

The physician-activist unexpectedly died in his sleep on Monday from an acute cardiac event while in Rwanda, where he had been teaching. He is survived by his wife, Didi, and three children.

Who was Paul Farmer? Just before he died, he was professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the division of global health equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He wrote extensively on health, human rights, and social inequality. He co-founded Partners in Health in 1987 to bring healthcare to poor areas, starting with work in a rural Haitian village. Partners in Health has since expanded its operations worldwide. He was known for finding innovative solutions to make healthcare accessible such as creating sun-based treatment schedules for illiterate patients or hiring people to trek to remote locations to make sure people took their medication. Journalist Tracy Kidder, who wrote a biography of Farmer, said one of his strongest memories of the doctor happened after he had been treating patients in Peru with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. A shy woman followed them to their car and held her head down while thanking Farmer. Kidder recalled that Farmer held the woman’s hands and replied “for me, it is a privilege,” in Spanish.

Dig deeper: Read Jamie Dean’s report in WORLD Magazine on how the recent abductions in Haiti are affecting churches and ministries.