The Dark Side of Cuba's Health System: Free Speech, Rights of Patients and Labor Rights of Physicians

Dantés, Octavio Gómez

doi:10.1080/23288604.2018.1446275

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Up until COVID-19, public health had largely moved away from recommending highly restrictive policy responses, preferring disease responses that minimized incursions on individual rights considered effects on countries’ economies [ 43 ]. For instance, Cuba’s approach to testing and quarantining people with HIV in AIDS sanitoriums in the early years of the HIV pandemic were viewed as an overly reactionary and unnecessary infringement on individual rights [ 52 ]. AIDS activists and their public health allies initially sought approaches that would respect the autonomy and privacy rights of people with or at risk for HIV infection and that would offer protection from unwarranted discrimination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

HIV policy legacies, pandemic preparedness and policy effort to address COVID-19

Fox

Kim

2023

PLOS Glob Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

That the world was unprepared for a major infectious disease outbreak is now readily apparent to all credible observers. However, some countries were more prepared than others and we have seen a variety of responses to COVID-19 emerge across nations. While recognizing that the sources of variation in country responses to COVID-19 are many and varied, in this study we seek to examine how policy legacies from national responses to HIV have influenced countries’ responses to COVID-19. The aim of this study was to examine whether countries with a more conducive HIV policy environment were better prepared for COVID-19 and have therefore had more preemptive and rights-based responses. Using data from the Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker, we develop measures of country effort to respond to COVID-19 including early containment and closure policies, prevention policies, economic policies, and health system policies. We combine this with data from the HIV Policy Lab and correlate overall and disaggregated country HIV Policy scores with COVID-19 Policy scores. We find that the COVID-19 Containment and Closure Measures Index was negatively correlated with supportive social policies related to HIV in the early stages of the pandemic, but the association did not persist as time went on. The COVID-19 Economic Support Measures had prolonged positive associations with supportive social policies related to HIV and negative association with clinical and treatment policies. Countries with stronger structural responses to HIV have been less inclined towards involuntary measures and more prepared for the social and economic elements of COVID-19 pandemic response.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

HIV policy legacies, pandemic preparedness and policy effort to address COVID-19

Fox

Kim

2023

PLOS Glob Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…22 Such activities have spurred discussion on the motivation for this Cuban international activity, whether driven by international prestige, 14 goodwill, soft power, 12 solidarity 13 or economic gain. 23 Cuba's medical missions have also been criticised for violating the (labour) rights of those deployed. There is some suggestion, for example, that these doctors may not have autonomous decision-making regarding whether they want to deploy on these international missions, but rather are forced to do so by the government.…”

Section: Bmj Global Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cuba y seguridad sanitaria mundial: Cuba’s role in global health security

Wenham

Kittelsen

2020

BMJ Glob Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cuba has been largely absent in academic and policy discourse on global health security, yet Cuba’s history of medical internationalism and its domestic health system have much to offer contemporary global health security debates. In this paper, we examine what we identify as key traits of Cuban health security, as they play out on both international and domestic fronts. We argue that Cuba demonstrates a strong health security capacity, both in terms of its health systems support and crisis response activities internationally, and its domestic disease control activities rooted in an integrated health system with a focus on universal healthcare. Health security in Cuba, however, also faces challenges. These concern Cuba’s visibility and participation in the broader global health security architecture, the social controls exercised by the state in managing disease threats in Cuban territory, and the resource constraints facing the island—in particular, the effects of the US embargo. While Cuba does not frame its disease control activities within the discourse of health security, we argue that the Cuban case demonstrates that it is possible to make strides to improve capacity for health security in resource-constrained settings. The successes and challenges facing health security in Cuba, moreover, provide points of reflection relevant to the pursuit of health security globally and are thus worth further consideration in broader health security discussions.

show abstract

The Cuban revolution and infant mortality: A synthetic control approach

Geloso

Pavlik

2021

Explorations in Economic History

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Dark Side of Cuba's Health System: Free Speech, Rights of Patients and Labor Rights of Physicians

Cited by 5 publications

References 7 publications

HIV policy legacies, pandemic preparedness and policy effort to address COVID-19

HIV policy legacies, pandemic preparedness and policy effort to address COVID-19

Cuba y seguridad sanitaria mundial: Cuba’s role in global health security

The Cuban revolution and infant mortality: A synthetic control approach

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About