SHIFTING THE PARADIGM
FIGHTING DISEASE, FIGHTING DOGMA
A group of Haitian and American friends began by working with and listening to people who were living in a squatter settlement in the hamlet of Cange, in Haiti’s Central Plateau. Many people in Cange found themselves suddenly displaced and their livelihoods abruptly upended when a massive hydroelectric dam was built to provide power to Haiti’s capital city of Port au Prince, flooding their fertile farmland without warning. Proximity to the displaced, silenced, and marginalized is core to the mission and operations of Partners In Health.
CLICK TO ADVANCE
Poor people, impoverished by historical and present-day policies, make up the majority of our staff. They assure that the needs of the most vulnerable are heard and central. When the people of Cange were asked what they needed, they stated the clear need for health, education, and jobs. Understanding through deep listening and solidarity that working to fulfill these basic human rights was an antidote to the long injustice suffered by the Haitian people, Zanmi Lasante (as PIH is known in Haiti) set out to provide jobs, education, and health care. Delivering these basic rights together with medical treatment was, and is, essential to achieve true health.
CLICK TO ADVANCE
Yet in the mid-1980s, experts from global institutions such as the World
Health Organization and the World Bank were cautious about the delivery
of health care within impoverished settings. The dominant paradigm for
the health of the world’s poor was to provide prevention alone. From the
outset, PIH faced strong resistance from global institutions that viewed PIH’s uncompromising mandate to bring comprehensive health care to the most vulnerable communities as impractical and unsustainable. The dogmatic stance of these experts meant that the universal human right to health for entire communities, nations, and even continents was often written off as not cost-effective. Yet, without care and treatment, health inequalities grew.
CLICK TO ADVANCE
Discrimination and the obvious perpetration of structural racism were
manifested in inhumane “do not treat” official policies (as in HIV and MDR
TB cases). PIH was and still is best positioned to make the case for universal
quality standards in health care due to its strong academic and research
partnerships in the United States. Ultimately, we will measure ourselves not
only by how many people we have served directly, and how well, but also by how many people we have served indirectly, through our efforts to change minds, laws, and policies.
CLICK TO ADVANCE
Today, PIH partners with both the public and private sectors to advance
the cause for Universal Health Care. Because our approach is based on
rigorous evidence and decades of experience, PIH is trusted by many
national ministries of health to provide support when it comes to delivering,
reforming, or improving national care systems.
SHIFTING THE PARADIGM
Andrea Tibbetts
Created on November 12, 2025
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Transcript
SHIFTING THE PARADIGM
FIGHTING DISEASE, FIGHTING DOGMA
A group of Haitian and American friends began by working with and listening to people who were living in a squatter settlement in the hamlet of Cange, in Haiti’s Central Plateau. Many people in Cange found themselves suddenly displaced and their livelihoods abruptly upended when a massive hydroelectric dam was built to provide power to Haiti’s capital city of Port au Prince, flooding their fertile farmland without warning. Proximity to the displaced, silenced, and marginalized is core to the mission and operations of Partners In Health.
CLICK TO ADVANCE
Poor people, impoverished by historical and present-day policies, make up the majority of our staff. They assure that the needs of the most vulnerable are heard and central. When the people of Cange were asked what they needed, they stated the clear need for health, education, and jobs. Understanding through deep listening and solidarity that working to fulfill these basic human rights was an antidote to the long injustice suffered by the Haitian people, Zanmi Lasante (as PIH is known in Haiti) set out to provide jobs, education, and health care. Delivering these basic rights together with medical treatment was, and is, essential to achieve true health.
CLICK TO ADVANCE
Yet in the mid-1980s, experts from global institutions such as the World Health Organization and the World Bank were cautious about the delivery of health care within impoverished settings. The dominant paradigm for the health of the world’s poor was to provide prevention alone. From the outset, PIH faced strong resistance from global institutions that viewed PIH’s uncompromising mandate to bring comprehensive health care to the most vulnerable communities as impractical and unsustainable. The dogmatic stance of these experts meant that the universal human right to health for entire communities, nations, and even continents was often written off as not cost-effective. Yet, without care and treatment, health inequalities grew.
CLICK TO ADVANCE
Discrimination and the obvious perpetration of structural racism were manifested in inhumane “do not treat” official policies (as in HIV and MDR TB cases). PIH was and still is best positioned to make the case for universal quality standards in health care due to its strong academic and research partnerships in the United States. Ultimately, we will measure ourselves not only by how many people we have served directly, and how well, but also by how many people we have served indirectly, through our efforts to change minds, laws, and policies.
CLICK TO ADVANCE
Today, PIH partners with both the public and private sectors to advance the cause for Universal Health Care. Because our approach is based on rigorous evidence and decades of experience, PIH is trusted by many national ministries of health to provide support when it comes to delivering, reforming, or improving national care systems.