is a compelling biographical account of Dr. Paul Farmer, an infectious disease specialist and anthropologist, who believes access to health care is a basic human right. With limited funding, Farmer established a community based hospital in Haiti, where defying conventional medical wisdom, he provides treatment for many Haitians infected with HIV/AIDS and other diseases. His efforts extend to Cuba, Peru and the prisons of Russia where he stemmed the spread of a drug resistant strain of tuberculosis. From his unconventional childhood living on a bus and a boat to Harvard Medical School to inner city Boston and the central plateau of Haiti, Farmer's fight against the impact of poverty and injustice is truly inspirational.
Mountains Beyond Mountains raises many questions relating to the impacts of colonization, poverty and globalization, infectious disease and modern plagues, sickness and wealth, U.S. participation in Haiti and our responsibility for suffering.
See the links below for additional information about Paul Farmer, Tracy Kidder and Mountains Beyond Mountains .
Biographies
Biography of Paul Farmer in Social Medicine and Health Inequalities.
21 Feb. 2006 Brigham and Women's Hospital. 19 Jan. 2007
http://www.brighamandwomens.org/socialmedicine/aboutfarmer.aspx
Paul Farmer . Department of Social Medicine. Harvard Medical School19 Jan. 2007 http://www.hms.harvard.edu/dsm/WorkFiles/html/people/faculty/PaulFarmer.html
Brief biography and timeline with acceptance speech in Heinz Awards. 7 Dec 2007http://www.heinzawards.net/recipients.asp?action=detail&recipientID=73
Articles and Interviews
The Quest for Dr. Paul Farmer. NPR 20 Oct. 2003 All Things Considered. 19 Jan 2007 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1472188
A Conversation with Tracy Kidder, Author of Mountains Beyond Mountains. BookBrowse. 1997-2007. 29 Jan 2007 http://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm?author_number=940
Farmer, Paul. “Haitian Refugees Sovereignty and Globalization.” America: The National Catholic Weekly 189.7 (2003)http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?articleTypeID=1&textID=3159&issueID=451
The Uses and Abuses of Haiti: Helen Scott Interviews Paul Farmer International Socialists Review, April 2003 http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Caribbean/Uses_Abuses_Haiti.html
Farmer, Paul. “Social Inequalities and Emerging Infectious Diseases” Emerging Infectious Diseases 2.4 (1996)http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol2no4/farmer.htm
Interview with Dr. Paul Farmer . Kaiser network.org. Kaiser Family Foundation. 19 Jan. 2007 http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=1943
Book Reviews
Rylko-Bauer, B., et. al., Managed Care or Managed Inequality? A Call for Critiques of Market-Based Medicine. Medical Anthropology Quarterly v. 16 no. 4 (December 2002) p. 476-502 http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?recid=0bc05f7a67b1790ec41ff49
ba614c330331f62da53eb825d94cac8e7db90a804643322b13c0f417e&fmt=H
Tepe, Melissa. Mountains Beyond Mountains : Healing the World: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer. Einstein Journal of Biology & Medicine ; 2005, Vol. 21 Issue 2, p95-96, 2p http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=18391505&site=ehost-live
Sheehan, M. N., reviewer Mountains beyond mountains (Book Review). America v. 189 no. 15 (November 10 2003) p. 25-6 http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?recid=0bc05f7a67b1790ec41ff49b
a614c330331f62da53eb825d713dacd2489f875680814a75686b9610&fmt=H
