Paul Farmer (Tuesday)
Physician-anthropologist Paul Farmer has dedicated his life to treating some of the world's poorest populations, in the process helping to raise standards of care in global health. He is the Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard Medical School, an attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and co-founder of Partners In Health, a non-profit organization that provides free health care and undertakes advocacy activities on behalf of the destitute and sick. Along with his colleagues, Dr. Farmer has pioneered novel, community-based treatment strategies for AIDS and tuberculosis. He is the subject of Pulitzer Prizewinner Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains.
Global Health Realities
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Everyday HIV /AIDS kills 6,000 people and another 8,200 people are infected with this deadly virus.
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Every 30 seconds an African child dies of malaria-more than one million child deaths a year.
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Each year, approximately 300 to 500 million people are infected with malaria.
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Approximately three million people die as a result.
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TB is the leading AIDS -related killer and in some parts of Africa, 75 percent of people with HIV also have TB.
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Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.
Source: UN Millennium Project
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