REFUGEE FACT SHEET NO.12|
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| CUBANS—THEIR
HISTORY AND CULTURE
REFUGEE FACT SHEET NO.12 |
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CONTENTS |PREFACE | INTRODUCTION | LAND & ECONOMY | PEOPLE | NATIONALISM | IMMIGRATION | HISTORY| EDUCATION | HEALTH | LIFE | ART | VALUES | RESETTLEMENT PROBLEMS | CUBAN SPANISH | LEARNING ENGLISH | BIBLIOGRAPHY | |||||||
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The Cuban health system is a formidable achievement by many accounts. |
The Cuban Health SystemThe health care system has been severely affected by Cuba's last several years of economic difficulties and the American embargo, but even so is by many accounts a formidable achievement, and is frequently cited by Castro, along with the education system, as evidence of the success of his revolutionary government. Health care for every citizen has been a top priority, second only to education. Clinics and health care providers are located throughout the country even in rural areas, and care is free. The system emphasizes prevention, health education, and community medicine. Each individual is expected to fulfill certain well-defined requirements for his own health care, like getting an annual check-up, and these expectations are clearly communicated through health education and are reinforced by popular support. Maintaining one's health is seen as one of the characteristics of a good revolutionary citizen. The health care system has resulted in a national health profile unparalleled in the third world, and its comprehensiveness is reflected in vital statistics. Cuba's life expectancy rates and other such indications are equal to those in developed countries: Life expectancy among men is 74 years, among women 77 years; infant mortality rates are about 12 per 1,000 births. These excellent rates might have slipped some, given the drastic shortages of medical supplies since 1991, but overall the Cuban population is healthy and long-lived, especially in comparison to the populations of other Caribbean and Latin American countries. There are negative aspects to the Cuban health care system, one of which—the severe restriction of personal freedom—is described below in our discussion of the Cuban approach to HIV-positive individuals. And like the health system in the Soviet Union, the best medical care has been available only to those in high government positions, or to those who can pay for it with hard currency. |
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