Nolan
22nd February 2010, 18:56
HEALTH CARE IN CUBA SUCCEEDS DESPITE LACK OF RESOURCES
Cuba's health care system is remarkably effective and sophisticated, despite the lack of such basic supplies as medical textbooks and antibiotics, according to APHA members who recently toured the country.
"I think the physicians there are truly unsung hemes," said Cherie Sammis, MS, RNP, executive director of the OB/GYN center at Providence Hospital in Washington. "These people don't have what we take for granted and throw in the trash can every day."
The 18 APHA members who toured Cuba in November, following the APHA Annual Meeting in San Diego, found such conditions as a neonatal unit closed for lack of a specialized battery and a transplant surgeon who essentially did nothing but take patients' blood pressure because of a lack of supplies.
System works despite limitations
Despite the challenges, though, the health care system works well, said Ross Danielson, PhD, head of the study tour and chair-elect of the APHA Population, Family Planning & Reproductive Health Section. The country boasts a 95 percent immunization rate for children and has seen infant mortality drop from 60 per 1,000 live births to 9.4 per 1,000 live births in the past 35 years.
Although some of Cuba's health statistics are encouraging, health officials must deal with a rationing of care that focuses. on the improved health of women and children, sometimes at the cost of men and the elderly, said Richard Garfield, chair of APHA's International Human Rights Committee. While the country boasts some of the best infant mortality figures in Latin America; the morality rate among the elderly rose 10 percent between 1990 and 1994.
The Cuban medical system is operating on one-third of the money available to the system in 1989, Garfield said.
"They're really doing well, but it's not like an easy, happy story," he said. "It's the product of very difficult choices."
Danielson describes the Cuban health system as akin to the educational system in the United States. Like elementary schools located in the most remote areas of such states as Iowa, community health centers are within walking distance of most Cuban homes. A doctor and a nurse are assigned to a medical office in each neighborhood of about 120 families, and the doctor lives upstairs from the treatment area.
Although tough economic times demand that people stand in line for hours for bread and milk, Cuba is not a "pit of despair," Danielson said.
"Things were pretty bad, and there was a sense of urgency, but there also was a lot of humor and goodwill," he said.
APHA is one of many groups that opposes the U.S. embargo of Cuba that began more than 30 years ago. An APHA resolution stresses that opposition based on a conclusion by a 1993 health delegation to Cuba: "severe health problems could emerge in the future including further deterioration in nutrition status, a resurgence of infectious diseases and an increase in chronic diseases."
Many volunteer groups, including the Washington-based MediCuba, donate medical supplies and textbooks regularly to health care providers in need.
"Doctors often are working from notes and memory because there is very little reference material available," said Brian Adams, a MediCuba member. To contribute, call Adams at (202) 319-1215. The group accepts money as well as supplies, including drug samples and medical texts from any year.
For more information on APHA's efforts to track health status in Cuba and oppose the U.S. embargo,contact Garfield at 617 W. 168 St., Room 225, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.
PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Ross Danielson, second from right, listens as Cuban government epidemiologists outline morbidity and mortality statistics. The country boasts some of the best health data in Latin America, despite a lack of medical supplies and textbooks.
I found this interesting.
Cuba's health care system is remarkably effective and sophisticated, despite the lack of such basic supplies as medical textbooks and antibiotics, according to APHA members who recently toured the country.
"I think the physicians there are truly unsung hemes," said Cherie Sammis, MS, RNP, executive director of the OB/GYN center at Providence Hospital in Washington. "These people don't have what we take for granted and throw in the trash can every day."
The 18 APHA members who toured Cuba in November, following the APHA Annual Meeting in San Diego, found such conditions as a neonatal unit closed for lack of a specialized battery and a transplant surgeon who essentially did nothing but take patients' blood pressure because of a lack of supplies.
System works despite limitations
Despite the challenges, though, the health care system works well, said Ross Danielson, PhD, head of the study tour and chair-elect of the APHA Population, Family Planning & Reproductive Health Section. The country boasts a 95 percent immunization rate for children and has seen infant mortality drop from 60 per 1,000 live births to 9.4 per 1,000 live births in the past 35 years.
Although some of Cuba's health statistics are encouraging, health officials must deal with a rationing of care that focuses. on the improved health of women and children, sometimes at the cost of men and the elderly, said Richard Garfield, chair of APHA's International Human Rights Committee. While the country boasts some of the best infant mortality figures in Latin America; the morality rate among the elderly rose 10 percent between 1990 and 1994.
The Cuban medical system is operating on one-third of the money available to the system in 1989, Garfield said.
"They're really doing well, but it's not like an easy, happy story," he said. "It's the product of very difficult choices."
Danielson describes the Cuban health system as akin to the educational system in the United States. Like elementary schools located in the most remote areas of such states as Iowa, community health centers are within walking distance of most Cuban homes. A doctor and a nurse are assigned to a medical office in each neighborhood of about 120 families, and the doctor lives upstairs from the treatment area.
Although tough economic times demand that people stand in line for hours for bread and milk, Cuba is not a "pit of despair," Danielson said.
"Things were pretty bad, and there was a sense of urgency, but there also was a lot of humor and goodwill," he said.
APHA is one of many groups that opposes the U.S. embargo of Cuba that began more than 30 years ago. An APHA resolution stresses that opposition based on a conclusion by a 1993 health delegation to Cuba: "severe health problems could emerge in the future including further deterioration in nutrition status, a resurgence of infectious diseases and an increase in chronic diseases."
Many volunteer groups, including the Washington-based MediCuba, donate medical supplies and textbooks regularly to health care providers in need.
"Doctors often are working from notes and memory because there is very little reference material available," said Brian Adams, a MediCuba member. To contribute, call Adams at (202) 319-1215. The group accepts money as well as supplies, including drug samples and medical texts from any year.
For more information on APHA's efforts to track health status in Cuba and oppose the U.S. embargo,contact Garfield at 617 W. 168 St., Room 225, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.
PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Ross Danielson, second from right, listens as Cuban government epidemiologists outline morbidity and mortality statistics. The country boasts some of the best health data in Latin America, despite a lack of medical supplies and textbooks.
I found this interesting.