Global Health Advocate Dr. Paul Farmer Dies at 62

Dr. Paul Farmer, a physician who dedicated himself to expanding quality health care across the globe, has died at the age of 62. The organization he co-founded – Partners in Health – shared the news Monday, saying that he had died of a cardiac event in his sleep in Rwanda.

Dr. Farmer’s passion for health care equity began soon after he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Duke University. For a year after he finished his undergraduate education, he worked at public health clinics in Haiti. Even after he began attending Harvard to earn a joint medical degree and doctorate in anthropology, he continued to find ways to further Haitian health projects.

This work led him to team up with several other global health advocates in launching Partners in Health (PIH) in 1987. The organization’s mission is two-fold: to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair. Over the decades since PIH was launched, it has expanded its reach to 12 countries, including Haiti, Rwanda, Peru, Liberia, and the Navajo Nation.

GreaterGood’s belief in this work has led us to donate more than $1 million to PIH. We are also currently helping to build a maternal health center in Sierra Leone, a country with one of the highest rates of early childhood death and where one in 20 women is at risk of dying due to childbirth or a maternal cause throughout her lifetime. The center will provide comprehensive reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health care services to help lower these rates.

In Dr. Farmer’s absence, PIH says they will continue to work toward his vision of global health equity.

In a statement, PIH CEO Dr. Sheila Davis said, “Paul Farmer’s loss is devastating, but his vision for the world will live on through Partners in Health. Paul taught all those around him the power of accompaniment, love for one another, and solidarity. Our deepest sympathies are with his family.”

Dr. Farmer also served as chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Officials in Massachusetts shared tributes to the global health visionary.

Governor Charlie Baker tweeted, “Paul Farmer was a living legend – a man who made a life out of helping people in many countries address some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous public health issues. His organization Partners In Health has made the world a better place in countless ways. And I will always be grateful for the work they did here in MA during some of the worst days of the pandemic.”

During the pandemic, the organization helped American communities with contact tracing, testing, social support programs, and a vaccine distribution model focused on equity and access. They are now expanding their work in the U.S., aiming to strengthen public and community health systems long-term to help address disparities.

In Rwanda, where Dr. Farmer was working at the time of his death, PIH has helped bolster the health of citizens following the genocide in 1994 that decimated societal infrastructure and health systems. Since the organization arrived in Rwanda in 2005, they’ve helped fight against HIV, improve maternal and child health, and bring high-quality health care to more than 860,000 people.

Due to such efforts, global health officials also spoke of Dr. Farmer’s impact following his death. Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted, “He led so many efforts for health equity and against root causes of injustices. We must never stop continuing his legacy. You will be so greatly missed my friend.”

Dr. Farmer is survived by his wife Didi and their three children.