The Year in Quotes
Memorable moments from 2016
“Health is not a privilege. It’s not something that should be reserved for people who can pay for it or live in the cities. Health is a human right and it should be universal.”
Dr. Martha Arrieta on what she learned while working with PIH in Mexico. Four years after beginning to work in Chiapas, PIH surpassed 50,000 patient visits in 2016.
“There hasn’t been any real TB drug development for a very long time.”
Dr. KJ Seung on why he’s excited about bedaquiline and delaminid, the first new tuberculosis medicines in 40 years. In 2016, PIH began using the drugs, which are more effective and less toxic than the alternatives, to treat patients in six countries.
“One goal we have, now more than ever, is that every woman in Haiti has access to family planning if she wants it.”
Dr. Louise Ivers, senior health and policy advisor, on PIH’s multipronged response to the Zika epidemic, which erupted in Haiti in early 2016 and was found to cause birth defects. PIH serves 32,000 pregnant women in Haiti each year.
“All of them have been called to step beyond the traditional bounds of medical training.”
Co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer on the graduation of residents trained in internal medicine and global health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
“Looking back and realizing it’s been a year makes me so happy to see them running around the house and doing well.”
Manoucheca Ketan, a mother of conjoined twins whom PIH clinicians successfully helped separate at University Hospital. The surgery was a first in Haiti. A year later, in May 2016, the family remained healthy and happy.
“If it weren’t for this hospital, I would be dead.”
Isemelie Bazard, a 64-year-old street vendor who underwent surgery and chemotherapy at PIH’s University Hospital in Mirebalais, Haiti. The cancer center at University Hospital performed free biopsies for 1,600 patients and delivered chemotherapy to roughly 15 patients per day in 2016.
“Without a strong health system, the ability to respond effectively to epidemics is sharply limited.”
Co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer, during a public discussion with philanthropist and software magnate Bill Gates on the website Reddit.
