a country with Cuba’s economic development, as it shares wealthy countries’ common problem of death by heart disease, diabetes, cancer and stroke. As part of its preventive care program, the Cuban government started an education initiative to inform people about non-disease related deaths. Moreover, it established research initiatives to combat fatal contagious illnesses. On June 2015 Cuba became the first country in the world to eliminate mother-tochild transmission of HIV and syphilis thanks to the scope of its healthcare program. Primary physicians
and gynecologists give special attention to pregnant woman in order to prevent costly complications and provide proper treatment if they do test positive for HIV or syphilis. Furthermore, the government’s focus on research led medical professionals to develop a treatment for diabetic ulcers in the feet known as Heberprot-P, alternative cancer treatments, and Nimotuzumab, a treatment for late stage tumors in the head and
neck.
expectancy garnered praise from interna-
Advancements such as these attract a large number of health tourists to the island. Cuban doctors tend to patients from all over the world who come to receive treatments that are not found in their respective countries. The Cuban government’s shockingly low physician salary provides doctors with an incentive to work in private-international hospitals. Government leaders use its health services, specifically medical staff, in negotiations with other states. For example, Cuba provides Venezuela with medical staff in exchange for cheap oil, which Cuba later can re-sell for cash. Unfortunately for Cuba, Venezuela’s economic and political catastrophe created complications in this system of trade. Although the Cuban government is dedicated to the universal well-being of its citizens, the economic strain forces the island to spend a smaller portion of its resources on healthcare than the United States government. Cuba devotes 11.1 percent of its GDP to the health industry, spending an average of $2,475 per person. The United States spends around 18 percent of its GDP, averaging around $9,500 per person. Yet, Cuba’s smaller investment has not proven disadvantageous. The island’s infant mortality rate is 4.5 deaths per 1,000 people, 1.3 fewer deaths than that of the United States. At 77 years, male life expectancy is the same in both countries while females’ life expectancy is only one year longer in the United States. Although the healthcare program’s ability to maintain a low infant mortality rate and high life
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tional medical professionals, the program has not escaped the stresses of the island’s poor socioeconomic conditions. In March 2014, the Cuban city of San Miguel de Padron suffered an outbreak of hepatitis A due to water contamination. A few months earlier, floods led to increased urbanization in La Habana, causing a rise in cases of certain contagious diseases. The program’s failures root themselves in the government’s inability to provide sufficient funds for quick or emergent care. People must wait weeks to get prescribed tests and medicines as pharmacies’ low supply of essential medicine further strains patient care. Many Cuban hospitals rely on foreign aid to re-stock their pharmacies and equipment. The 1960 U.S. embargo on exports to Cuba further limits the government’s ability to purchase medicine and medical equipment predominantly found in the United States, leading doctors to push for reform. Cuban doctors are hopeful that better relations with the United States and a possible end to the embargo will fix the gaps of the island’s healthcare. An influx of American health tourists would increase medical profits and investment opportunities. Yet, shifting focus towards more profitable health tourism might displace physicians’ priorities away from public services. The program’s primary concern, though, is its ability to stay afloat as the Cuban economy avoids full-on collapse. With an uncertain future, Cuba’s celebrated healthcare system is threatened by socioeconomic limitations as it awaits economic or political reform.