Paul Farmer’s Pathologies of Power is a compelling read when examining global health, as it takes shape using Farmer’s own experience as an anthropologist and healthcare practitioner in places such as Haiti, Mexico, Cuba and Russia. His firsthand experiences, backed by further research and statistics, prove invaluable in exploring the structural inequalities in health that people face, and the fact that they are nearly always coming “from above” (Farmer, 48). Split into two distinct sections, ‘Bearing Witness’ and ‘One Physicians Perspective on Human Rights’, Farmer uses these to provide both context for his argument and theory-backed, solution based ideas for moving forward.
Bearing Witness explores the stark contrast between what he actually experienced while working and observing in various places with the NGO he co-founded called "Partnerships in Health” as far as the realities people are facing, and what media and general attitudes towards these places and practices convey. The second part explains what all of this means in the context of structural violence, and explores Farmer’s belief in the importance of including social and economic rights in any examination of human rights. Though it does not present any radically new responses to this crisis, …show more content…
It is so often seen that solutions to health concerns are only available to those who can afford them. By allowing “market forces” to continuously shape which groups of populations have access to sufficient healthcare constitutes a human rights abuse, even on behalf of well-meaning liberal theologians (Farmer, 138). As another economic factor, something Farmer could have used to further augment is point, is the fact that many health problems are connected to industry, including that of medicine itself, in various impoverished regions
Bearing Witness explores the stark contrast between what he actually experienced while working and observing in various places with the NGO he co-founded called "Partnerships in Health” as far as the realities people are facing, and what media and general attitudes towards these places and practices convey. The second part explains what all of this means in the context of structural violence, and explores Farmer’s belief in the importance of including social and economic rights in any examination of human rights. Though it does not present any radically new responses to this crisis, …show more content…
It is so often seen that solutions to health concerns are only available to those who can afford them. By allowing “market forces” to continuously shape which groups of populations have access to sufficient healthcare constitutes a human rights abuse, even on behalf of well-meaning liberal theologians (Farmer, 138). As another economic factor, something Farmer could have used to further augment is point, is the fact that many health problems are connected to industry, including that of medicine itself, in various impoverished regions