Cuban Health Care: The Ongoing Revolution

by Don Fitz

Overview

How the Cuban health care system became the blueprint for accessible medical care around the world

Quiet as it’s kept inside the United States, the Cuban revolution has achieved some phenomenal goals, reclaiming Cuba’s agriculture, advancing its literacy rate to nearly 100 percent – and remaking its medical system. Cuba has transformed its health care to the extent that this “third-world” country has been able to maintain a first-world medical system, whose health indicators surpass those of the United States at a fraction of the cost. Don Fitz combines his deep knowledge of Cuban history with his decades of on-the-ground experience in Cuba to bring us the story of how Cuba’s health care system evolved and how Cuba is tackling the daunting challenges to its revolution in this century.

Fitz weaves together complex themes in Cuban history, moving the reader from one fascinating story to another. He describes how Cuba was able to create a unified system of clinics, and evolved the family doctor-nurse teams that became a model for poor countries throughout the world. How, in the 1980s and ‘90s, Cuba survived the encroachment of AIDS and increasing suffering that came with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and then went on to establish the Latin American School of Medicine, which still brings thousands of international students to the island. Deeply researched, recounted with compassion, Cuban Health Care tells a story you won’t find anywhere else, of how, in terms of caring for everyday people, Cuba’s revolution continues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781583678602
Publisher:	Monthly Review Press
Publication date:	06/22/2020
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Don Fitz is a member of the editorial board of Green Social Thought and newsletter editor for the Green Party of St. Louis. He contributes frequently to Monthly Review magazine.

Table of Contents

Preface 7

1 The Three Thousand Who Stayed 22

2 Birth of the Cuban Polyclinic 39

3 Cuba's First Military Doctors 54

4 From Policlínicos Comunitarios to Family Medicine 74

5 Cuban Doctors in Angola 91

6 A Time of the Unexpected 125

7 ELAM: The Latin American School of Medicine 151

8 Thirteen Faces of ELAM 165

9 Cuba: The New Global Medicine 179

10 Challenges of the Twenty-First Century 190

11 Cuba's Medical Mission 210

12 Medicine in Cuba and the United States 220

Postscript: How Che Guevara Taught Cuba to Confront Covid-19 244

Notes 257

Index 287

Editorial Reviews

"This is the best written and most accurate work published in years about the history and recent achievements of Cuban health care. The book gives inspiration for people around the world concerned about the future of health care and health itself."

Howard Waitzkin