Toward an Understanding of Cuban Medical Internationalism

Abstract

The facts are clear and speak for themselves. Indeed, any one of the following highlights of Cuban medical internationalism could be seen as being a truly exceptional example of international solidarity: 23,000 children, victims of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, have been and continue to be treated in the Tarará beach resort outside Havana; 1.5 million people in Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean have had their eyesight restored through Operation Miracle; tens of thousands of victims of natural disasters have been treated by extensive emergency medical missions—from Pakistan to Peru; some 9,000 students from the developing world are studying (at no cost) to become doctors at the Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina, and 50,000 other medical students are currently being trained in Cuba through an alternative medical curriculum; medical schools with Cuban cooperation have been established in Yemen (1976), Guyana (1984), Ethiopia (1984), Uganda (1986), Ghana (1991), Gambia (2000), Equatorial Guinea (2000), Haiti (2001) Guinea Bissau (2004), and East Timor (2005); and finally tens of thousands of Cuban doctors have saved countless lives in dozens of countries since 1960. Indeed, by 2008, Cuban medical staffwere caring for over 70 million people in the world and in some countries— such as in Haiti—practically the entire population. This multifaceted

Of all the so-called developing nations, Cuba has by far the best health system. And their outreach program to other countries is unequaled anywhere.

President Jimmy Carter, interviewed in “Salud”