Cuban Public Health: Living the Marxist Dream

摘要

Any serious discussion of community-based global health care must include Cuba's public health care system. The system is a curiosity in terms of political ideology, social history, economics, design, delivery, and outcomes. Cuba is noteworthy for its (a) low infant mortality, (b) low rates of birth defects, and (c) life expectancy at a level found in high-income countries. All of this has been accomplished in spite of the U.S. embargo that has been in place for 50 years and the loss of trading partners since the fall of the Soviet Union about 20 years ago. When the American Public Health Association sponsored an academic and professional exchange between the United States and Cuba in November 2010, I was anxious to participate so that I could explore the public health care system, which has been a hallmark of Cuban life since the 1959 revolution.