Paul Farmer: Fevers, Feuds and Diamonds

In the week before his unexpected and untimely passing, Dr. Paul Farmer, infectious disease specialist, anthropologist, and global health leader, spoke remotely from Rwanda with medical students and resident physicians at the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine. Titled "Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola in West Africa," Dr. Farmer's talk utilized the rubric of social medicine to examine how the colonial history of West Africa had turned it into a medical desert. Noting how "colonial medicine" had been focused on control over care historically, Dr. Farmer argued that much of the international response to Ebola in West Africa was also inordinately focused on control over care.
When those affected with Ebola were isolated in "Ebola Treatment Units" with nothing but self-administered oral re-hydration solutions, the case fatality ratio was 71%. When Americans were evacuated and treated in ICUs with central lines and intravenous fluids, there was 0% case fatality. Paul Farmer notes that the lesson we must learn from Ebola in West Africa is that we must focus on care as well as control.
In one of his last charges for us, he urges us to work toward the appropriate provision of staff, space, and systems to care properly for the sick.

Видео Paul Farmer: Fevers, Feuds and Diamonds канала UH Better Tomorrow Speaker Series