Civil and political rights are critical, but not often the real problem for the destitute sick. My patients in Haiti can now vote but they can't get medical care or clean water.

He is editor-in-chief of Health and Human Rights Journal. White and Todd McCormack co-founded Partners In Health. PIH helps patients living in poverty to obtain effective drugs to treat tuberculosis and AIDS.

He was appointed as United Nations Secretary-General's Special Adviser for Community-based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti on 28 December 2012. His work is the subject of Tracy Kidder's 2003 book Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. He currently resides in Kigali Rwanda.