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Feb 4, 2004

"Beyond mountains there are mountains. As you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too." --Haitian Proverb

Mountains Beyond Mountains

He doesn't accept any excuses to treat the poor. No doctors? He'll train them. High drug prices? He'll get pharmaceutical companies to lower them. Misguided policies? He'll change them. He will hike seven hours over mountainous terrain to visit a single patient, and then fly to Europe to consult with the World Health Organization on global health policy. When he once spent $19,000 to attempt to save a child suffering from a rare cancer, many talked about "opportunity cost" but he retorted: what if it were your child? Meet Paul Farmer -- a Harvard professor, an anthropologist in Boston, and a man considered a saint in Haiti.