Paul Farmer dead – Top US doctor who founded Partners In Health to bring medical care to poorer countries dies aged 62

TOP US doctor Paul Farmer, who founded Partners In Health to bring medical care to poorer countries, has died at 62.

The Harvard professor’s death was announced on Monday by Partners in Health.

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Dr Paul Farmer was a Harvard Medical School professor[/caption]

“Partners In Health announced that its founder, Dr. Paul Farmer, unexpectedly passed away today in his sleep while in Rwanda,” the nonprofit health organization tweeted.

“Dr. Farmer was 62 years old. He is survived by his wife, Didi Bertrand Farmer, and their three children.”

“Paul Farmer’s loss is devastating, but his vision for the world will live on through Partners in Health. Paul taught all those around him the power of accompaniment, love for one another, and solidarity.

“Our deepest sympathies are with his wife Didi and three children,” PIH CEO Dr Sheila Davis said in a statement.

Dr Farmer had been teaching in Rwanda, East Africa, for the past few weeks at the University of Global Health Equity.

He spent decades focused on improving its health care system.

In addition to starting hospitals in Rwanda and Haiti, Farmer helped bring life-saving HIV drugs to the people of Haiti in the early 2000s.

The Haiti clinic, which was a single room at first, grew over the years into a hospital and adjoining nursing school, serving a community of more than 150,000 people.

Dr Farmer gained public notoriety due primarily to the 2003 book by Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World.

The book told Dr Farmer’s life story and celebrated his devotion to helping the neediest.

Over the years, Dr Farmer raised millions of dollars, funneled to an ever-expanding network of community health facilities.

Dr Farmer is survived by his wife, Didi Bertrand Farmer, a researcher for Partners in Health, and their children, Elizabeth, Catherine and Sebastian.