U.S. Scientists Praising Cuban Health and Urge Ending Blockade

to look into their system.

Since 2000, I've seen other outstanding reviews from other U.S. American sources, too.

It would be great if President Obama cleared the way for more direct communication between professionals of the two countries.

Cuba has made incredible leaps, hasn't it? It's respected throughout the world for its medical programs, and medical research, not to mention educational system, etc.

The results speak for themselves, and have been praised for years at the U.N. In the meantime, our own stats have gone to hell in a handbag.

Here's more:

Science 30 April 2010:
Vol. 328. no. 5978, pp. 572 - 573
DOI: 10.1126/science.1189680

Global Health:
Fifty Years of U.S. Embargo: Cuba's Health Outcomes and Lessons
Paul K. Drain and Michele Barry*
The U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, enacted after Fidel Castro's revolution overthrew the Batista regime, reaches 50 years in 2010. Its stated goal has been to bring democracy to the Cuban people (1), but a 2009 U.S. Senate report concluded "the unilateral embargo on Cuba has failed to achieve its stated purpose" (2). Domestic and international favor for the embargo is not strong (3). Many political and business leaders suggest changing U.S. policy toward Cuba, and President Obama eased travel and remittance restrictions of Cuban-Americans (4, 5). In light of such changes in sentiment and policy, and also the impending overhaul of U.S. health care, we review health consequences and lessons from "one of the most complex and longstanding embargoes in modern history" (2).

School of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/328/5978/572

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May 5th,
2010What Cuba Can Teach Us About Health Care

Just a morning’s boat ride from the tip of Florida is a place where medical costs are low and doctors plentiful. It’s Cuba, and Stanford University physician Paul Drain says it’s time for the United States to pay attention to our neighbor’s shoestring success.

Despite a 50-year trade embargo by the United States and a post-Soviet collapse in international support, the impoverished nation has developed a world-class health care system. Average life expectancy is 77.5 years, compared to 78.1 years in the United States, and infant and child mortality rates match or beat our own. There’s one doctor for every 170 people, more than twice the per-capita U.S. average.

Not everything is perfect in Cuba. There are shortages of medicines, and the best care is reserved for elites. But it’s still a powerful feat. “In Cuba, a little over $300 per person is spent on health care each year. In the U.S., we’re spending over $7,000 per person,” said Drain, co-author of Caring for the World and an essay published April 29 in Science. “They’re able to achieve great health outcomes on a modest budget.”

With Fidel Castro’s reign as Cuba’s leader ending two years ago, relations with the United States have thawed. President Obama eased restrictions on travel to Cuba last year, and the oft-introduced Free Trade With Cuba Act finally has a chance of passing Congress. Drain would like the Institutes of Medicine to conduct a full study of the island nation’s success.

“There are so many lessons we might be able to learn from Cuba’s health care and medical education system, but we don’t know too much about it,” said Drain.

Wired.com: How does Cuba keep health care costs so low?

Paul Drain: Partly by keeping physicians’ salaries low. Obviously, given the government they have, they can do that. But they also emphasize primary care and preventive care, addressing diseases and problems before they become major. It’s a very different approach to health care.

In the United States, we essentially do the opposite. We treat diseases when they occur. We’re not very good at the preventive component, which causes the costs of our health system to be much higher.


Wired.com: What are the origins of Cuba’s approach?

Drain: Starting in 1964, they encouraged all medical school graduates to do at least two years of service in a rural area. That program became so popular that by the mid-1970s, almost all new physicians were doing rural service. From there, almost all medical graduates were channeled into a three-year family medicine residency. That’s where they do clinical training, making the transition to full doctor from medical student.

Almost all their residents do family medicine. They focus on primary care for all ages. Once everybody learns primary care, about 35 percent go on and specialize. It’s quite the opposite of what we have here.

Wired.com: How so?

Drain: Our medical students choose what they want to do. Only about 7 or 8 percent go into family medicine, which is our primary care system. In Cuba, everyone becomes a primary care doctor. They learn to prevent diseases.

Cuba also provides very good access. In the mid-1980s, they created a system of neighborhood doctors’ clinics. One doctor is responsible for a catchment area of a couple of city blocks. They get to know their patients well. If somebody has a problem, they can see the doctor in the clinic that day.

Wired.com: Could the U.S. government ever mandate a system like that?

Drain: It would be a big leap, but there are smaller steps that could be taken. We’re the only developed country without universal access to a nationalized health care system. Other countries have seen health care as a basic right and insured everybody. Everyone gets primary care. That would be a first step.

I saw someone in my clinic yesterday who hadn’t seen a doctor in 10 years. Her blood pressure was through the roof, and it’s probably been like that for a decade. She’s at tremendous risk for having a stroke or heart problems. If she’d seen somebody back when this started, it could have been controlled. But because of her high blood pressure, who knows what her future medical bills will be like.

If she were in the Cuban system, she would have had a visit scheduled yearly for the last 10 years. If she hadn’t shown up, someone would have gone to her home to see if she was OK. Blood pressure is an easy thing to check. It would have been controlled.

Wired.com: One problem in the United States is the shortage of doctors. How does Cuba train physicians?

Drain: Education is paid by the government, so students don’t have debt. In the United States, medical students come out $200,000 or $300,000 in the hole, which deters them from going into primary care. Cuban doctors are making a fraction of what we make in the U.S., but most Cubans aren’t going into medicine to earn money. They’re going into it to treat people in their communities.

In 1999, Cuba created a school of medicine for Latin America. They bring students in, train them for six years, give them room and board and a stipend. Afterward the students are required to go home and practice in poorer communities. It’s a remarkable program, with 10,000 students now from 33 countries, and an interesting model for developing health care workers.

More:
http://blog.emixt.com/what-cuba-can-teach-us-about-health-care/

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U.S. Magazine Emphasizes Cuba’s Advances in Health Sector

WASHINGTON – Science magazine praised the advances Cuba has made in the health care sector despite the effects of the U.S. embargo, which was imposed almost 50 years ago, on the communist island.

In an article in its Policy Forum section, the magazine, one of the most prestigious U.S. scientific publications, says that Cuban progress in the health care field is superior to that of other Latin American countries and compares only with the developed nations.

It adds that at a time when the United States is debating whether and how to reform its health care system it could be advantageous to draw lessons from what Cuba has done in the sector to date.

The embargo was imposed by the United States in 1962 with the aim of achieving the return of democracy to the island after the fall of the Fulgencio Batista regime and the rise of the communist government under Fidel Castro.

However, a 2009 U.S. Senate report said that the embargo has not achieved its stated goal and, given that international support for it – never strong – is weakening further, many politicians and businessmen are suggesting a change in the country’s Cuba policy.

The article, authored by professors Paul Drain and Michele Barry of the Stanford University School of Medicine, says that the embargo has had a major impact on Cuba’s financial and economic system and on the availability of medical supplies.

Yet, those negative effects seem to have been ameliorated by the successes that Cuba has achieved in other parts of the health care sector, the magazine says.

“Cuba has done a fantastic job regarding primary and preventive care, and even moreso if one takes into account that it has done it with a modest budget,” Drain told Efe.

More:
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=356223&CategoryId=14510

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

everyone realizes this whole awesome cuban health care bit is a fraud.

Please tell us about your experience in Cuba with the Cuban health system.

I am interested in your perspective, especially considering your deep background in health care, as well as Cuba.

Thanks.

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that one has to go to Cuba to comment on Cuba? Have you ever been to Venezuela?

One doesn't need to know about the decaying state of Cuba under the repressive dictatorship that the chances of them having such a good health care system are basically zero. But here are some pics anyway:

"> these guys died because they didn't have blankets.

"> that's a nice clean hospital bed there.

">

When you coffee shop revolutionaries go over there they show you what you want to see.

Not seeing them I can't be sure, but I suspect that you've posted the known fake pics from therealcubadotcom. They posted pics that the Miami Herald reprinted with captions saying they were Cuban hospital pics a few years ago. They aren't. Therealcubadotcom had posted pics of a decrepid Mexican hospital and claiming they were from Cuba. The Miami Herald issued a retraction and a correction after they investigated. Therealcubadotcom continues with the lie.

No matter who makes claims about Cuba (foreign scientists, foreign doctors, foreign patients, etc,) all who have been there and seen their system, (not coffee shops).... all meaningless. You know better. You've never been there, but you know better than those who have - including scientific and medical researchers.


Essentially you are saying that you don't need any facts, nor personal experience. You know based on fake pics and paid for anti Cuba hearsay.


Its quite clear where you're coming from. Anti Cuba adamant ignorance.


You know nothing about Cuba. Period.

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I will look to see if they are known fakes, if so then I apologize.

I can't link to a Lexisnexis search result.

Therealcubadotcom is run by a member of the Miamicuban exile terrorist group Alpha 66.

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:hi:

All I could locate was the fact he and his wife, Clara, sold a house in Kendall, Florida, with a pool in the back, at over $500,000.00.

You note there is NO "About Us" part in his The Real Cuba, and the only mention you find of him anywhere appears connected to the Hannity show, and John Stossel at ABC.

Beyond that, there's only Xavier Utset, who manages the part of the Cuba program for Freedom House which depends entirely on financing from USAID, natch. Frank Calzon used to run it, but apparently he stepped back after his organization was caught having
bought those luxury items like cashmere sweaters, leather jackets, Godiva chocolates, crabmeat, Nintendo games, even an electric saw, etc., running up a humongous bill.

Don't know if Xavier is his brother, or his son. No way to tell. There's NADA within 20 or more pages on George or Jorge beyond the recognition of a home sale, other than his the Real Cuba, and connection to the Hannity Show on Fox.

I looked before for this guy when another dipstick posted those photos. I couldn't see them, either, but I know which ones they are. There's one of an old man sitting on a bed, another of an old man lying on his side on a bed. They've been posted by Batistianos since 2000, at least. Impossible to get info. on the publisher of the Real Cuba. Not too much transparency there!

I guess you have to keep a low profile when you're dishonest.

We can know just how bad the lie was from the Miami Hairball apology and disclaimer. They don't generally apologize for the propaganda they print. This was a howler.

Cuba's medical system has been praised throughout the world. It is one of the best in the world, and is free to all. They stress LOCAL community health care--prevention, early detection--and the system is designed as a "corporal work of mercy"--as medical care should be--rather than as a corporate profiteer's dream. They also do a much, MUCH better job of training doctors and medical professionals than most countries, and one of the best things they do is providing that medical education for free, so that young doctors do not start out half a million dollars in debt, and so that there are ENOUGH doctors and other medical professionals to staff a free, community-based health system. They have been exporting their system to other countries, to help staff community clinics in Venezuela, Bolivia, Haiti and other countries. They also provide a free medical education in Cuba to poor but talented youngsters from other countries. And they are especially noted for their free eye clinics and the planeloads of poor blind people from other Latin American countries who can go to Cuba for free and have their sight restored--and for their care for the children of Chernobyl.

This is the sort of thing that should be acknowledged by our government and our press corps, and instead is ignored. It is the sort of thing that they should have acknowledged about Soviet Russia as well. Cuba is not all bad. Neither was Russia. Painting them as all bad--in the teeth of facts like this--is warmongerism, promoted by war profiteers. Despite Stalin's bloody madness, and the Soviet Union's imperialism (which in truth was more Tzarsim than communism), the lot of ordinary people was vastly improved--especially during the later Krushchev/Brezhnev eras--over the horrors of Tzarist rule, as to education, employment and a decent life. I don't discount Stalin's horrors, but I do think that the U.S. missed an important opportunity for peaceful co-existence in the post-Stalin era, and instead, driven by war profiteers, and not by necessity, greatly increased the arms race and the militarization of our country and the world--a horror that is still with us and that was and is our fault.

The current U.S. government/corporate/war profiteer attitude toward Cuba is the same--absolutely unnecessary hostility, and unbelievably hypocritical preaching about "human rights." I mean, WHO has a torture dungeon on the island of Cuba? WHO slaughtered a million innocent people to steal their oil? You'd think that the words "human rights" would turn into spiders and vampire bats in our politicians' mouths, they are so hypocritical.

Anyway, as to the human right to medical care, Cuba beats us all to hell. Cubans have that human right; we don't. And their FREE system is at least equal to our own, and in some ways superior, on quality, and very superior as to quantity--medical care for everyone.

Why not admit it? Because then, how would the U.S. war profiteers justify the U.S. 4th Fleet in the Caribbean, seven U.S. military bases in Colombia, $7 BILLION in military aid to Colombia (a country with the second worse human rights record on earth), U.S. military bases in Panama, in Honduras, on the Dutch islands right off Venezuela's coast, and on and on. Cuba has to be seen as a THREAT for all this vast expense of U.S. militarization and cannot be seen to have done ANY good. Venezuela is also treated this way--its democratic and social justice accomplishments never mentioned. The reason we get deluged with so much disinformation about these countries is that it serves the people who are profiting on war materials and because they present examples--as with Cuba's health care system--of the benefits of NOT doing everything the way the rich and the corporate want things done.