Cuba’s response to COVID-19: lessons for the future

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevance of Cuba’s medical system, its health tourism and related diplomacy in the context of the recent COVID-19 pandemic for the global response to disease outbreaks. In addition to Cuba being a destination for leisure tourists in the Caribbean, the renowned Cuban medical system attracts thousands of health tourists seeking low-cost but high-quality treatment. This paper demonstrates how Cuba’s unique response to the pandemic, which included sending thousands of medical staff abroad, can inform structural and global issues and contribute to a more sustainable future. Design/methodology/approach The research in this study is primarily drawn from published academic and media sources that address Cuba’s medical system, its health tourism and the government’s response to the recent pandemic. The author, a political scientist and an author of many publications on Cuba, and the PI of a study focused on Cuban tourism, will also draw on her expertise. Findings This paper addresses the Cuban Government’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic and places this response in the context of Cuba’s medical system, its health tourism and related diplomacy. It reveals key lessons from Cuba’s response for other tourist destination states and, more broadly, for the worldwide response to global outbreaks and the management of health systems. The findings will further research in diplomacy and tourism as well as inform policy and practice. Research limitations/implications This paper explores an ongoing topic and thus further research will be required following the pandemic. Practical implications This research note offers important implications for practice including providing accurate, research-based information that challenges misinformation about Cuba’s health system, its medical diplomacy program, health tourism and its response to COVID-19. It offers valuable lessons for public health authorities including the importance of preventative health measures, community medicine and the benefits of working globally to combat outbreaks through the sharing of medical staff and resources. Social implications This research note reveals the health, political and social implications of Cuba’s response in this time of crisis. It shows the benefits of a robust but low-cost community-based medicine program, medical diplomacy and how a state’s response during crisis can moderate the global inequities and injustices such as unequal access to care that often accompany disease outbreaks such as COVID-19. Originality/value This research note is an early analysis of a response by an important tourist destination country to the pandemic. The author anticipates that the information provided to the international community via this open access journal will offer practical implications for the ongoing global efforts to manage this crisis and contribute to the research on tourism, diplomacy, justice and health policy.

Forecasting on Covid-19 infection waves using a rough set filter driven moving average models

“…In Cuba, Covid-19 infection arrived with 3 Italian tourists in March 2020. With prompt closure of borders, mandating face masks, and isolation of the infected population, Cuba responded to the pandemic successfully till November [50] . But, later, a nominal up-trigger of 104 cases observed on December 05, 2020, erupted into a devastating wave from June to December 2021 ( Fig.…”

Resposta de Cuba e Uruguai no enfrentamento à pandemia de COVID-19

“…No Uruguai foi implementado o Plano Nacional de Enfrentamento 28 , aprovado e promulgado após a notificação dos primeiros casos 15 Não existem relatos de grandes epidemias em Cuba, mas após a epidemia do ebola em 2013, o governo, juntamente com a Vigilância Epidemiológica, estabeleceu um comitê de alerta para possíveis epidemias, que foi acionado logo no início da pandemia para estruturar medidas de contenção 30 . O Ministério da Saúde Pública também promoveu capacitação para todos os profissionais de saúde que trabalhavam na assistência, para que pudessem identificar casos suspeitos e fazer orientações 7,[31][32][33] .…”

“…O rastreamento de casos e contatos foi relatado por diversos autores como sendo uma das estratégias bem-sucedidas do governo cubano na pandemia. Segundo Wylie 33 , esse rastreamento era efetuado por um sistema de avaliação contínua e avaliação de risco (CARE) da pesquisa domiciliar da atenção primária. Os estudantes de medicina também auxiliaram nessa busca ativa 35 , além disso, foi criado um aplicativo em que o indivíduo poderia fazer sua autoavaliação sobre possíveis sintomas e acionar a atenção primária para uma visita domiciliar.…”

Global tourism in crisis: conceptual frameworks for research and practice

“…Disruptive technologies, automation, robotization and smart tourism, along with virtual and augmented reality and smart tourism portend new normals, as well as opportunities for service providers, visitors and residents to co-create equitable, inclusive experiences and smart democracy to co-govern the virtual commons (Fuste ´-Forne ´and Jamal, 2021). Meanwhile, local-global responses such as that of Cuba's pandemic response to distant others (Wylie, 2021), local resistance to appropriation and misrecognition (Nguyen et al, 2021) and the rise of the informed resident-tourist, offer interesting possibilities for new hybrid archetypes to reclaim the local and help re-configure Climate Leviathan in the context of global travel and tourism.…”

“…As Wylie (2021, p. 2) argues, "despite simultaneously undergoing the most devastating economic recession in decades, Cuba's pandemic response offers important lessons for the worldwide handling of disease outbreaks and the management of health systems." Cuba's act of medical diplomacy where its medical infrastructure saw it come to terms with COVID-19, also included the dispatch of medical teams abroad to assist in combatting the pandemic and treatment of infected patients (Wylie, 2021). Cuba shows that through medical diplomacy, "a state's response during crisis can moderate the global inequities and injustices such as unequal access to care that often accompany disease outbreaks such as COVID-19" (Wylie, 2021, p. 6).…”