Maternal Health in Cuba

[Nolan]

Maternal Health in Cuba

Recently, I had the great experience of traveling to Cuba, the biggest island in the Caribbean, which has been under economic and political embargo for more than fifty years. I was surprised to know that in this poor country high quality health care is provided to all pregnant women regardless of their income or social status. In Cuba, women are viewed as being very special because of the important role they play in the society -their ability to carry life.
During pregnancy, women in Cuba have special privileges. The government covers all of their health care needs including medication, food, clothing, personal hygiene products, and a personal space in which women can spend time under the care of professionals throughout their pregnancies. These services are administered and coordinated by the program known as PAMI -- Programa de Atención Materno Infantil (Program of Maternal and Child Care). This program is available to all pregnant women in the country.
PAMI was formed to improve the quality of life of pregnant women, to decrease the number of deaths of women and children during pregnancy, and at the. time of delivery. The aim of the program is to ensure that women have the best experience during their pregnancies. This involves giving them the opportunity to enjoy and spend the pregnancy period free of stress or any other situation that might have a negative impact on their health, and on the health of the foetuses and new born babies.
This program allows all women in Cuba to enjoy their pregnancy with fewer amounts of problems because they are able to access necessary services. Doctors, nurses, social workers, and other health care providers offer personal support to pregnant women in order to give them the best help and advice, and to create a good atmosphere.
PAMI was formed to assist all women in the country, regardless of their income, whether they live in a big city or in a small rural town. The main objective of the program is to provide women with holistic maternal health -- social, economic, and physical environments are recognized as strong determinants of women's health, and the health of their babies. As a result of PAMI, Cuba has reached a very high level of maternal and childhood care, sometimes the level and quality of care and attention given to women is better than in many developed countries.
Maternity is an important step in women's lives. It has a great impact on women and their babies. Supportive conditions and environments are important to help women deliver healthy babies, and stay healthy and happy themselves. I think Cuba is a good example of what can be achieved with limited resources but great care for people.
PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE)
~~~~~~~~
By Karla Orantes


Another article.

[Bud Struggle]

which has been under economic and political embargo for more than fifty years.

Err. BIG error in the first sentence. There is not nor has there ever been an "embargo" on Cuba....should I continue reading?

[Nolan]

Err. BIG error in the first sentence. There is not nor has there ever been an "embargo" on Cuba....should I continue reading?

lol

I suppose the world is just imagining things then. :rolleyes:

[Bud Struggle]

lol

I suppose the world is just imagining things then. :rolleyes:

From the Free Dictonary:


embargo [ɛmˈbɑːgəʊ]
n pl -goes 1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a government order prohibiting the departure or arrival of merchant ships in its ports
2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) any legal stoppage of commerce an embargo on arms shipments
3. a restraint, hindrance, or prohibition

The US government does not:
1. Prohibit or the arrival or ships or planes into Cuba.
2. Stop any commerce into or out of Cuba.
3. Restrain or hinder any country from doing business with Cuba.

The US Government just chooses not to do or have its citizens do business in or with Cuba itself.

FYI: I think the US government's policy is totally wrong. We should FLOOD the place with US good, services and culture.

[Nolan]

From the Free Dictonary:



The US government does not:
1. Prohibit or the arrival or ships or planes into Cuba.
2. Stop any commerce into or out of Cuba.
3. Restrain or hinder any country from doing business with Cuba.

The US Government just chooses not to do or have its citizens do business Cuba itself.

It's an economic embargo, not a physical one.

And Cuba is barred from any market where the US dollar circulates. Read my other threads.

[Bud Struggle]

It's an economic embargo, not a physical one.

And Cuba is barred from any market where the US dollar circulates. Read my other threads.

Fair enough about reading the other threads--but the US dollar is the de facto currancy of Cuba.

[Nolan]

Fair enough about reading the other threads--but the US dollar is the de facto currancy of Cuba.

For people in the know.

[mykittyhasaboner]

There is not nor has there ever been an "embargo" on Cuba....should I continue reading?Probably, since you have yet again displayed resounding ignorance. I suppose the Cuban economy looses billions of dollars anually just because they feel like it. Perhaps they wipe their asses with it those billions of dollars? Since US media corporations feel the need to highlight the shortage of toilet paper in Cuba, yet not the effects of the trade embargo. Or maybe Fidel and Raul send it to Swiss bank accounts? Since Forbes feels the need to fabricate stories regarding the "net worth" of Castro, instead of highlight the history and nature of the relations between the USA and Republic of Cuba.

Leave it to you to deny an act of genocide committed by the US government.


Article 2

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:



(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.



Emphasis on the particular method used by the US against Cuba.


FYI: I think the US government's policy is totally wrong. We should FLOOD the place with US good, services and culture. No "we" [sic] shouldn't. Cuba has already sacrificed enough of their economy to foreign penetration as a measure to promote growth in this post-Soviet world. Albeit only a small portion, since the major portions of the Cuban economy is publicly owned, or communally owned; furthermore the inherent logic of the Cuban economy is conditioned by socialist public ownership as the dominant mode of production. We wouldn't want that to change as a result of US "goods, services, and "culture" :lol:.

[Bud Struggle]

Probably, since you have yet again displayed resounding ignorance. I suppose the Cuban economy looses billions of dollars anually just because they feel like it. Perhaps they wipe their asses with it those billions of dollars? Since US media corporations feel the need to highlight the shortage of toilet paper in Cuba, yet not the effects of the trade embargo. Or maybe Fidel and Raul send it to Swiss bank accounts? Since Forbes feels the need to fabricate stories regarding the "net worth" of Castro, instead of highlight the history and nature of the relations between the USA and Republic of Cuba.

You miss the point--it isn't an embargo. It is a boycott. Nobody should be forced to do business with people with witch we disagree--is there any problem in freedom of choice? I would be most happy to do business in Cuba--REALLY. I suffer, too.


Leave it to you to deny an act of genocide committed by the US government. Do you think that much of the USA that if they don give you Most Favored Nation Status you are committing genocide?



Emphasis on the particular method used by the US against Cuba.
No "we" [sic] shouldn't. Cuba has already sacrificed enough of their economy to foreign penetration as a measure to promote growth in this post-Soviet world. Albeit only a small portion, since the major portions of the Cuban economy is publicly owned, or communally owned; furthermore the inherent logic of the Cuban economy is conditioned by socialist public ownership as the dominant mode of production. We wouldn't want that to change as a result of US "goods, services, and "culture" :lol:.

Listen: At least under Clinton I could buy some cigars there on occasion and spend a couple of days in Havana with my family. Bush and it seems Obama are total bastards when it comes to an occasional visit.

I'm for opening the country up-- give them INTERNET (you know--how you and I are talking?) Give them access to the USA and I need to buy some good cigars already!

Open the place up.

[Raúl Duke]

Actually


Stop any commerce into or out of Cuba.The US gov stops American businesses from doing anything with Cuba.
I heard a few news article on Cubans and American business men meeting in Mexico for some sort of talk but something occurred, caused by the US government, that stopped it.
My father actually thinks his company (that he's employed in...he doesn't own it if he did I would be a billionaire's son most likely studying in Columbia Uni) should get into the Cuban auto-refinish market but due to US gov embargo it doesn't happen directly (indirectly, yes; the company's European subsidiaries can do business in Cuba). If there was no embargo, Cuba would be part of his sales region and he would be talking to clients ,commissars or whatever, who run the body-shops (if they exist...although if European refinishes go into Cuba than I guess so) in Cuba.

[Drace]

You miss the point--it isn't an embargo. It is a boycott. Nobody should be forced to do business with people with witch we disagree--is there any problem in freedom of choice? I would be most happy to do business in Cuba--REALLY. I suffer, too.

Wtf are you saying? The US GOVERNMENT is not allowing businesses to trade with Cuba.
Its the USA that's restricting the freedom of its businesses to trade.

And yes there is something wrong with people suffering just because the US doesn't "like" them. Just like its wrong to not feed your slave just because you own the food. But no, "freedom of choice" certainly applies to everything.

[mykittyhasaboner]

You miss the point--it isn't an embargo.

You miss the point, it is an embargo. How long are you going to pretend otherwise?



It is a boycott. Nobody should be forced to do business with people with witch we disagree--is there any problem in freedom of choice? I would be most happy to do business in Cuba--REALLY. I suffer, too. Freedom of choice? Fuck you. This is not about abstract freedoms "of choice" for capitalists you idealist twit. This is about granting Cubans the freedom to economically develop with out constraints put in place by the criminal US embargo.


Do you think that much of the USA that if they don give you Most Favored Nation Status you are committing genocide?
So you persist to deny the fact that the US embargo against Cuba is an act of genocide according to the Geneva Convention?

You can stop fooling around and give a straightforward answer for once.




Listen: At least under Clinton I could buy some cigars there on occasion and spend a couple of days in Havana with my family. Bush and it seems Obama are total bastards when it comes to an occasional visit.Oh, how wonderful, an occasional visit and some cigars. What petty bullshit. How about medical supplies for Cubans, who cannot obtain them because of the embargo? What about the billions of dollars the Cuban economy looses annually because "Uncle Sam" wants Cuba to cry "uncle"?
Your chauvinist attitude towards Cubans and this whole situation surrounding the embargo is disgusting.


I'm for opening the country up-- give them INTERNET (you know--how you and I are talking?) Give them access to the USA and I need to buy some good cigars already!Well go over to Europe, or some other Latin American country, where Cuban exports are sold. It shouldn't be hard for you, since you own your own business and all. I just bought a pack of 5 Monte Cristo's for 45 francs in Switzerland. Plus, both you and I live in South Florida so this next suggestion should be obvious, get them on the black market! Surely it shouldn't be too hard to find some?

As for your, again chauvinist, attitude about "giving them internet", you yet again highlight your own ignorance. US companies can't "just give them internet" nor will they ever want to. Internet access in Cuba is very limited because of both economic (thanks largely in part to the genocidal US embargo) and political constraints. You need miles upon miles of fiber optic cable to be layed down, tested, and networked throughout the entire island before you can think about "giving them internet".


Open the place up.Cuba is more or less "open"; though certainly not "open" in the way you'd want it to be. You know, so you can get in on the 'action'. Cuban residents can travel, and foreign visitors are welcome. Many individuals have been granted complete asylum in Cuba to be safe from the threat of the US federal government or similar powers. Many students from all over the world study in Cuba, specifically in medical fields. Cuba is one of the most generous nations in the world when it comes to disaster aid and relief--not to mention training doctors for work in third world countries, as well as the US.

It's funny that you talk about "opening the place up" but don't even care about how much damage the US has caused Cuba over the last 50 years. Cubans want to be safe first, not completely "open"; "open" would mean US agents and terrorists have a much easier time doing their wonderful work in the name of bringing democracy to Cuba.

There are plenty of other exploitative capitalist economies to do business with, go find some of them.

[manic expression]

You miss the point--it isn't an embargo. It is a boycott. Nobody should be forced to do business with people with witch we disagree--is there any problem in freedom of choice?
You obviously have no idea what you're talking about. The embargo is extraterritorial, which means firms which do business with Cuba can face potential restriction in the US market. Further, ships which dock at Cuban ports are proscribed from docking in the US for several months, IIRC. The embargo has been condemned by the United Nations on countless occasions with near unanimity (aside from the US and Guam, IIRC).

The Helms-Burton act includes:

International Sanctions against the Cuban Government. Economic embargo, any non-US company that deals economically with Cuba can be subjected to legal action and that company's leadership can be barred from entry into the United States. Sanctions may be applied to non-U.S. companies trading with Cuba. This means that internationally operating companies have to choose between Cuba and the US, which is a much larger market.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helms%E2%80%93Burton_Act

There are references there. Oh, and here's the text, just in case you don't believe me:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c104:1:./temp/~c104OnHE9H:e24525: (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c104:1:./temp/%7Ec104OnHE9H:e24525:)

In fact, the embargo is more like a blockade, as it seeks to stop all trade into Cuba.

[RGacky3]

The US Government just chooses not to do or have its citizens do business in or with Cuba itself.

FYI: I think the US government's policy is totally wrong. We should FLOOD the place with US good, services and culture.

As Maniac expression said, whatever you call it, essencailly it IS an embargo, if your going to play with langauge then technically cocaine is not illigal in the united states, its just a regulated substance, but in practice it is illigal, and also in practice, it is an embargo.

The US's stance in the international market, is huge, meaning if it threatens companies that do buisinesses in Cuba, with restrictions in the US, it is essencailly an embargo.

[Bud Struggle]

Well again I agree that the US should stop the boycott of Cuba. I doubt that 99% of Americans really want the boycott at all--but the 1% as I guess "kitty" most know (since he lives in South Florida) is that the Cuban Exiles are rabid on the subject of keeping Cuba closed. They are looking for the day when Fidel and his brother abscond into the hereafter and they think they can march in and take over the place as conquering heros. Unfortunately for them I doubt the Cuban people living in Cuba will give them the welcome they want. It's a screwed up situation all around.

Anyway back on Cuban health care--Cuba does have good doctors--and plenty of them and for a pretty good reason--they subsidize the educational costs of doctors which are huge. My little Sugar 'n Spice is looking to become a doctore herself and that little adventure is looking like it will cost me around a half million dollars--a lot of money. For those people looking to become doctors that don't have Daddy Warbucks for a father that means taking on a lot of debt for a long time--so here in America doctor's fees have to be substantial. In Cuba doctors make something a little above the national average--but because there's no debt for school they don't need the high fees.

As a sidelight this answers in part the old question about Communism of who is going to work hard and study, etc. in an economy where wealth can't be accumulated? It seems the doctors in Cuba do without much trouble.

[Dean]

From the Free Dictonary:



The US government does not:
1. Prohibit or the arrival or ships or planes into Cuba.
2. Stop any commerce into or out of Cuba.
3. Restrain or hinder any country from doing business with Cuba.

The US Government just chooses not to do or have its citizens do business in or with Cuba itself.

FYI: I think the US government's policy is totally wrong. We should FLOOD the place with US good, services and culture.

The US stops commerce into Cuba from the US. Clearly falls under number 2.

[Bud Struggle]

The US stops commerce into Cuba from the US. Clearly falls under number 2.

I believe it means in or out of CUBAN posts.

Either way it's a stupid law--the severe tightening was done 10 tears ago by George Bush as a favor to the Exiles whose vote in Florida put him into office.

Who says that your vote doesn't matter the the US? ;)


As for your, again chauvinist, attitude about "giving them internet", you yet again highlight your own ignorance. US companies can't "just give them internet" nor will they ever want to. Internet access in Cuba is very limited because of both economic (thanks largely in part to the genocidal US embargo) and political constraints. You need miles upon miles of fiber optic cable to be layed down, tested, and networked throughout the entire island before you can think about "giving them internet".

It funny but one of the main companies that give YOU your fiber optic cable was owned by one of those rabid anti Castro Cubans, Jorge Mas Canosa who owned (and now his family owns) MasTec.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Mas_Canosa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_American_National_Foundation

http://www.mastec.com/

[mykittyhasaboner]

So? What's your point? That Cuban gusanos can become rich capitalists in the field of network infrastructure? It's not very relevant.

[Bud Struggle]

So? What's your point? That Cuban gusanos can become rich capitalists in the field of network infrastructure? It's not very relevant.

No not at all. The point is that MasTec will be happy to install all of the fiber optic cable that Cuba needs if they are given the opportunity.

[mykittyhasaboner]

No not at all. The point is that MasTec will be happy to install all of the fiber optic cable that Cuba needs if they are given the opportunity.

No, they will do it if they are given enough money.

Cuba is looking to expand their internet network infrastructure through state owned assets. They don't need MasTec. Plus, logic would dictate that a company founded by "a rabid anti-Castro Cuban" wouldn't be so enthusiastic about helping evil communist Cubans develop their internet network.

[Bud Struggle]

No, they will do it if they are given enough money.

Cuba is looking to expand their internet network infrastructure through state owned assets. They don't need MasTec. Plus, logic would dictate that a company founded by "a rabid anti-Castro Cuban" wouldn't be so enthusiastic about helping evil communist Cubans develop their internet network.


Are you kidding? I bet they'd do the job for free. Money, like MasTec's money, is just a means to power not an end in itself.

[Drace]

Cuba internet users.

Year 2006 - 190,000
Year 2008 - 1,310,000
http://www.internetworldstats.com/car/cu.htm

Yeah, I think Cuba is doing just fine without MasTec. Evidence is fun, ain't it?

11.5% of the population has access to the internet.
This is much better than a lot of countries.

Is Cuba supposedly trying to censor information by not letting people have internet or something? I'm missing the motivate why Fidel deliberatly wants to cut off the access of internet to its population.

[Bud Struggle]

Cuba internet users.

Year 2006 - 190,000
Year 2008 - 1,310,000
http://www.internetworldstats.com/car/cu.htm

Yeah, I think Cuba is doing just fine without MasTec. Evidence is fun, ain't it?

11.5% of the population has access to the internet.
This is much better than a lot of countries.

Is Cuba supposedly trying to censor information by not letting people have internet or something? I'm missing the motivate why Fidel deliberatly wants to cut off the access of internet to its population.

Yes, evidence is fun---and here's Fidel's motive:

Havana Journal
A Black Market Finds a Home in the Web’s Back Alleys

HAVANA — On one block on the outskirts of the Cuban capital, a mother of two goes door to door selling hair ribbons and other sundries to her neighbors. An old man sells cookies and candies to those who ring the bell at his dilapidated home. A grandmother fills up empty beer cans with low-budget rum, which she sells in the evenings to help make ends meet.

Such entrepreneurship is outlawed but thrives nonetheless, and right under the noses of the block captains who are supposed to report such transgressions to the Communist Party chain of command.

These are tough economic times in Cuba (http://www.nytimes.com/info/cuba?inline=nyt-geo), and while the black market has always bustled here it seems particularly intense these days, with enterprising Cubans in a constant search of compatriots who have money to spend.

There are no classified advertisements in the Communist Party newspaper Granma or the other state-run publications that circulate in Cuba. Rather, sales are made through Radio Bemba (http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/15/57534.aspx), which is not a radio station at all but the country’s extensive gossip network, which takes its name from the Spanish word for lip.

Two Cubans in their 20s who left the island for Spain have created a way to make all this secretive selling easier. It is a type of Cuban Craigslist (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/craigslist/index.html?inline=nyt-org), which allows the small but growing number of Cubans with access to computers and the Internet to buy and sell with less sneaking around.
But the authorities, despite loosening restrictions recently on the sale of computers, have repeatedly blocked access to their Web site, Revolico, whose name means commotion. One of the programmers who created the site (www.revolico.com (http://www.revolico.com/)) said in an e-mail message that he and the co-founder were in a constant scramble to get their site past government censors.

“We chose the name to make an allusion to the disorder that we are trying to organize,” said the programmer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so that his relatives still on the island would not encounter problems with the Cuban authorities.

Although he said that Craigslist (http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites) was the inspiration for Revolico, the Cuban site is designed to upload more quickly on the island’s sluggish connection speeds. And although some of the categories on the site — cars for sale, computers for sale, boys seeking girls, boys seeking boys, for instance — are identical to those on Craigslist, there are many particularly Cuban exchanges.

Take the person selling his place in the visa line at the Spanish Embassy to someone trying to leave the island. Or the arranged marriages that are offered to help Cubans find a way to another country.

Or all the classic cars, like a 1950 Dodge, a 1956 Chevy or a 1954 Buick, all still running after having been cobbled together with makeshift parts for more than half a century.

There is clearly a market for the site, as viewership both on and off the island has steadily climbed and banner advertising, priced in euros, brings in modest sums. The site, which went online in December 2007, is currently accessible outside Cuba as well as to Cubans who use special software to get around the blocking. In January 2008, there were 336,595 page views. That increased to 1,331,161 by January 2009. By August 2009, Revolico said its viewership exceeded two million hits monthly.

The offerings on this online bazaar run the gamut, although it is impossible to tell which sellers are legitimate, which are scam artists and which might even be government agents setting a trap. A recent posting offered illegal satellite dishes, which the authorities occasionally seize from rooftops to prevent outlawed foreign broadcasts from finding their way into Cuban homes. Also for sale were English classes, old typewriters, sex toys, purebred dogs and tooth whitening chemicals. People with permission to travel were sought out to buy clothing, electronics and other goods to bring back in their luggage.

The founder said he had heard of Cubans practically making a living by buying and selling items through Revolico. A regular customer said he bought Windows 7 from the site for about $5. After calling the number in the Revolico advertisement, a young man showed up at his front door and installed the pirated software on his home computer.

The founder said, “In Revolico, one sees Cuba exposed, the daily lives of the Cubans, things that say much about the Cuba of today.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/americas/04havana.html

[SouthernBelle82]

From the Free Dictonary:



The US government does not:
1. Prohibit or the arrival or ships or planes into Cuba.
2. Stop any commerce into or out of Cuba.
3. Restrain or hinder any country from doing business with Cuba.

The US Government just chooses not to do or have its citizens do business in or with Cuba itself.

FYI: I think the US government's policy is totally wrong. We should FLOOD the place with US good, services and culture.

You're kidding right? Sometime in the past yr a Swedish company I believe it was tried to work with Cuba but the U.S. put a big fine on them. Does anyone remember that? And as far as U.S. goods what U.S. goods? 98% of our stuff is from China. As far as services they have better services so why would they want ours? And culture? I think they have their own. Would you want them to enforce their culture on you? And my U.S. culture is different from yours.