World Social Justice Day

Today is World Social Justice Day!

Today, the concept of social justice often refers to human rights, centered around improving the lives of groups historically marginalized based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion and disability. We advance social justice when we remove barries that people face because of these differences. Typically, those who strive for social justice seek the redistribution of power to enhance the well-being of individuals through equal access to healthcare, justice and economic opportunity.

For the United Nations, the pursuit of social justice for all is at the core of its global mission. This mission is to promote development and human dignity. The adoption by the International Labour Organization of the Declaration of Social Justice for a Fair Globalization is just one recent example of the UN system’s commitment to protection, social dialogue, and fundamental principles and rights at work.

February 20 is World Day of Social Justice

The General Assembly proclaimed February 20 as World Day of Social Justice in 2007. The General Assembly invited Member States to devote the day to promoting national activities in accordance with the objectives and goals of the World Summit for Social Development. Observance of World Day of Social Justice supports efforts of the international community to focus on poverty eradication. In addition, it supports the promotion of full employment and decent work, gender equity and access to social well-being and justice for all.

Who Was Paul Farmer?

Paul Farmer believed that everyone deserved respect and care, especially when they are sick. He refused to accept the gross health inequities that exist around the world. Farmer wanted to provide the highest quality health care to the poorest people everywhere. He believed in social justice.

Paul Farmer, World Social Justice Day and Partners in Health

In 1987, fresh out of his medical training in Boston and more than a decade before global health was a recognized academic field, Paul and a few of his colleagues founded Partners In Health. Paul was the main inspiration for many of its efforts.

In the 1990s, Partners in Health demonstrated successful use of second line therapies to treat multi drug-resistant tuberculosis in Peru and of antiretroviral drugs to treat AIDS in Haiti. He debunked the widespread belief that treatment successes for both diseases were impossible in resource-limited settings. Parters In Health then went on to establish health facilities in Haiti and Rwanda, where Farmer spent much of his time teaching countless numbers of physicians, nurses, and students. When Ebola broke out in West Africa in 2017, Partners In Health established Ebola treatment facilities in Liberia and Sierra Leone. All told, PIH has helped strengthen government health systems in more than a dozen countries.

Infectious Diseases and Social Change

At home, in 1997 Paul Farmer launched a unique Program in Infectious Diseases and Social Change in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He became Chair of the department in 2009. The following year, he established the Program in Global Health and Social Change. This expanded his earlier program to include a much larger set of diseases. It called upon faculty expertise in the social sciences, bioethics, economics, epidemiology, and the history of science.

Farmer also sought to implement and evaluate novel strategies for health-care delivery that are locally acceptable, effective, and equitable. Faculty in the department taught students form the undergraduate to the postgraduate level who sought to understand medicine and the social forces that affect health, both in the United States and in local field sites globally. Many of these were linked to Partners In Health.

A Loving Spirit

Paul’s love of treating patients and his spirit of service gave him strength. He was kind and gentle to his patients. Many referred to him as a champion. He was willing to take on worthy challenges, no matter their scale. Where others feared barriers, Paul saw tremendous need. The idea and beliefs in social justice and equity for which he advocated are the foundations of global health today. Because of Paul Farmer, there are many around the world who are striving to make the world a better place. He was a one-in-a-generation person.

Paul Farmer passed away on February 21, 2022 in Rwanda. He was 62.

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