Description
Book SynopsisThe Cuban health care system has been the focus of much international attention and debate while revealing jarring contrasts. Long publicized as the Cuban Revolution's greatest accomplishment, it is also a system covered by such a thick wall of political ideology that critical analysis is difficult. Its medical missions in Haiti and other developing countries have generated good will toward the Castro government, even as humanitarian groups in North America and Europe organize shipments of medicines and medical equipment to Cuban clinics and hospitals plagued by shortages of the most basic supplies. No country's health care system functions independently of its economy, and over the years, Cuba's medical services and public health indicators have improved at some intervals and declined at others. Cuban authorities have been closing medical facilities and making other cutbacks in the health budget, amid reported outbreaks of cholera and dengue fever in several parts of the country. The
Trade ReviewIt is refreshing to see a scholarly book that avoids the ideological blinders and binary thinking that have plagued so many other works on this topic. Cuban Health Care: Utopian Dreams, Fragile Future is empirically researched, objective and factual. It incorporates a wide range of sources, including interviews with dissident health care providers and national health data obtained from Cuban government sources. -- Katherine Hirschfeld, University of Oklahoma
Table of ContentsTable of Contents Introduction Chapter 1. Medical Histories Chapter 2. Shortages and Infrastructure Chapter 3. Women and Children Chapter 4. Ageing and Youth: A Cuban Dilemma Chapter 5. Medical Education Chapter 6. Pharmaceuticals Chapter 7. Medical Diplomacy and Services Abroad Chapter 8. Conclusions: Facing the Future Appendix 1. Open letter from the General Surgery Department of the “Calixto Garcia” Hospital to the First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party and President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Army General Raul Castro Ruz Appendix 2. A Cuban medical timeline Bibliography About the authors Index
