Health systems and services Books

Book SynopsisA slippery slope is an illustrative scenario in which events progress from an initially innocent step to a cascade of subsequent misfortunes. Each development that sequentially follows is increasingly inevitable, difficult to stop and more harmful than the last. The result is an unpredictable catastrophe. It warns participants of the possibility of unintended consequences from a seemingly innocent or valid opening action. Most of the time a slippery slope argument is criticized as a logical fallacy, e.g., if we allow our children to choose the movie this time they will, consequently, expect to be able to select the school they go to or the doctors they visit. Other times it is said to augur a political, legal, tactical threat, e.g., the U.S. government in the 1960s posited that if one country in a region became communist, the others would inevitably follow, and then all would fall into the sphere of the Soviet Union. These exercises are dismissed as being excessively fantastical stretches or falsely deterministic. The popular and medical literature, however, make no reference to medicine's Slippery Slope. There are no popular titles that mention it or the Shared Decision Movement, the main bulwark against medical misadventures. Every hour, thousands slip from a comfortable and healthy status to an arm-flailing, knee-buckling, body-spiraling, face-to-the-floor catastrophe. The book addresses this quick but preventable spiraling of good health into medical disaster. My goal is to inform the readership about The Slope and to provide the tools to avoid it or to successfully slalom their way down it.

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Book SynopsisTens of thousands of people around the world die each day from causes that could have been prevented with access to affordable health care resources. In an era of unprecedented global inequity, Cuba, a small, low-income country, is making a difference by providing affordable health care to millions of marginalized people. Cuba has developed a world-class health care system that provides universal access to its own citizens while committing to one of the most extensive international health outreach campaigns in the world. The country has trained thousands of foreign medical students for free under a moral agreement that they serve desperate communities. To date, over 110,000 Cuban health care workers have served overseas. Where No Doctor Has Gone Before looks at the dynamics of Cuban medical internationalism to understand the impact of Cuba's programs within the global health landscape. Topics addressed include the growing moral divide in equitable access to health care services, with a focus on medical tourism and Cuba's alternative approach to this growing trend. Also discussed is the hidden curriculum in mainstream medical education that encourages graduates to seek lucrative positions rather than commit to service for the marginalized. The author shows how Cuba's Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina (ELAM) serves as a counter to this trend. An acknowledgement of Cuba's tremendous commitment, the book reveals a compelling model of global health practice that not only meets the needs of the marginalized but facilitates an international culture of cooperation and solidarity.Trade Review``Robert Huish's Where No Doctor Has Gone Before: Cuba's Place in the Global Health Landscape is a powerful broadside against the enormous international inequities in access to health care, not just ignored but furthered by wealthy countries.... It is an astonishing idea that a country with the population of Ontario and an economy less than one sixth of Ontario's should provide such an outsized share of all international medical aid. The idea gets as little attention as it does largely because of the influence of the Cuban exile community in the swing state of Florida, and the consequent debt of all recent American presidents, hawks and doves, to the Florida voter. Hence the never-ending embargo.... [T]he central point of this fine work is crucially important: in a time of unprecedented disparity in global health outcomes, and while the International Monetary Fund insists on curtailing public health spending as one of the first steps in its oft-prescribed austerity measures, it is in the interest of countries that can help to help. The people who see this the clearest, are inevitably, the ones who are closest to that place of needing help. As it is with countries, so it is with individuals.'' -- Kevin Patterson -- Literary Review of Canada, June 2013, 201307``A strong addition to health care politics collections, much recommended.'' -- Midwest Book Review, March 2013, 201304``This excellent book gives us an immediate view and understanding of Cuba's commitment to and participation in medical internationalism. This small country has thousands of doctors around the world committed to the provision of health care. Its School of Latin American Medicine, opened in 1999, has taught medicine tuition-free to students from over 116 countries and graduated more than 12,000. Today, most of those graduates are back in their home countries working with the poor, often in areas that had seldom seen doctors. This is an endeavor, in short, from which even the U.S. might learn from Cuba's example.'' -- Wayne S. Smith, Senior Fellow, Center for International Policy and Adjunct Professor, Johns Hopkins University -- 201304Table of ContentsTable of Contents for Where No Doctor Has Gone Before: Cuba's Place in the Global Health Landscape , by Robert Huish Preface Acknowledgements List of Acronyms A Note on Sources 1. Against the Garden Path That Justifies Health Inequity: Making the Case for Health Care as a Human Right 2. Sewing the Seeds of Health as a Right: The Origins of Health Care in Cuba 3. Growing Alternatives through Foreign Policy: Foreign Policy and Perspectives on International Health 4. The New Doctor Blooms: The Ethics of Medical Education 5. The Blossom of Cooperation: Cuban Medical Internationalism through ELAM in Ecuador 6. The Fruit of Solidarity: How to Maintain Hope for Global Health Notes References Index

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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