Cuba's International Cooperation in Health: An Overview

Abstract

In the first years after Cuba's 1959 revolution, the island's new government provided international medical assistance to countries affected by natural disasters or armed conflicts. Step by step, a more structural complementary program for international collaboration was put in place. The relief operations after Hurricane Mitch, which struck Central America in 1998, were pivotal. From November 1998 onward, the "Integrated Health Program" was the cornerstone of Cuba's international cooperation. The intense cooperation with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela became another cornerstone. Complementary to the health programs abroad, Cuba also set up international programs at home, benefiting tens of thousands of foreign patients and disaster victims. In a parallel program, medical training is offered to international students in the Latin American Medical School in Cuba and, increasingly, also in their home countries. The importance and impact of these initiatives, however, cannot and should not be analyzed solely in public health terms.

International Medical Collaboration: Lessons from Cuba

“…This marked the start of Cuba’s collaboration with other countries in terms of community capacity building [19]. One of the first major long-term international Cuban health programmes was for the children of Chernobyl (Table 4) [20]. Within days of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl in 1986, Cuba sent over a medical team.…”

“…They determined that many of the children would require long-term treatment and arranged for the children and parents to be treated in Cuba. Thus, children with malignancies and neurological diseases received treatment in Cuba and Cuba has continued to offer treatment for these children for over 20 years [20]. …”

“…In 2004, Cuba, in conjunction with the government in Venezuela, launched a major initiative called Misión Barrio Adentro (Inside the Neighbourhood) [20]. The aim was to provide access to health care for poor Venezuelans who previously had limited access.…”

Morbidity, utilization of curative care and service entry point preferences in metropolitan Centro Habana, Cuba

“…The third contextual point of relevance is the substantive increase of the international medical collaboration with Venezuela since 2004 45 . The long term stability of the family doctor in his community was affected, as the need to en-sure an adequate coverage of the population of the doctors serving abroad made it necessary to reallocate doctors to other areas and to increase their population of responsibility 42,46 .…”

Public hospital management in times of crisis: Lessons learned from Cienfuegos, Cuba (1996–2008)

“…They are taken care of by 512 medical doctors (including 162 residents), 906 nurses, and 408 technical staff. Currently some 150 of these health workers, mainly physicians, are on international mission abroad [14]. Moreover, the hospital is a main pre-grade training site for part of the thousands of Latin-American medical students in Cuba [15].…”