Freedom Beyond Mountains
Partners in Health, or PIH, and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, or BRAC, are both important global health institutions that have made significant and large impacts on populations all over the globe; however, they differ in several aspects, such as their beginnings, motivations, financing, scope, and scale.
Both PIH and BRAC were founded by passionate individuals who wanted to make positive changes to people’s health and lives. They were both founded on the basis of one of the core principles of global health: public health is not medicine. PIH was founded in 1987 in Haiti, at the hands of Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, and Jim Kim, about two years after the Clinique Bon Saveur was initiated in Cange. BRAC
PIH did not end the program, however, after curing an incredible 11,000 cases of MDR-TB. PIH continues its program by also training community members to assist their families and neighbors in providing prevention and care. Enforcing the principle that public health is not just medicine, PIH also instituted other aspects into this program, such as social support, and income generation for community members running small health posts. Further, PIH, in partner with Socios En Salud, worked to influence Peru’s national policies regarding tuberculosis treatment, and together with Peru’s Ministry of Health, aims to fully eradicate TB in Peru. What is so impressive about PIH’s work with MDR-TB in Peru are the precedents it has set as well as the assumptions and policies it has changed on a national and global scale. PIH continues to do similar programs and to make large strides in many other countries and places throughout the world.
The work of BRAC and Mushtaque Chowdhury with oral rehydration therapy in Bangladesh is particularly expressive of the achievements of BRAC. The specific project was called the Oral Therapy Extension Program (OTEP). (Freedom from Want, p.106) As we have learned, diarrhea is one of the leading killers of children all over the world. Diarrhea can be a symptom of many health problems, and oftentimes diarrhea is a sign of dehydration. Around the