Monday, September 21, 2015

Wise Words on Cuba, Health Care & Aging

During the last few days, I've been part of a series of conversations (including this podcast from WITF-FM's Smart Talk) about Cuba, with topics magnified by the awareness of Pope Francis visiting in Havana.  I was often asked why I am interested in Cuba, and one person asked if I was "moving away" from a focus on aging.  Actually, my research interests in aging have drawn me to research in Cuba.  Old and Renewed in Cuba 2015

Statistical information on mortality and positive health outcomes in Cuba rival that of so-called "first world" nations. For example, according to World Health Organization reports (WHO 2013), Cuban life expectancy at birth is 77 years for men and 80 years for women. For comparison, WHO reports USA life expectancy at 76 for males and 81 for women.  Costs of health care are quite startling, as Cuba reports $1,828 per capita spending, while the USA reports per capita spending as $9,146.  Of course, one must dig deeper, to look at health care costs as percentages of GDP and other factors, including quality of life in later years.

During an especially vibrant meeting with a group of interested-in-Cuba academics from around central Pennsylvania, I learned from a colleague at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Professor Susan Rose, about a fascinating book tracing the Cuban model for health care to Che Guevara.  It is easy for Americans to focus only on Che as a folk hero (or, for some, anti-hero), remembered for his bearded image and rifle, side-by-side with Fidel and Raul Castro as they fought their way to Havana. Professor Rose recommended to me a 2011 book by her husband Steven Brouwer, Revolutionary Doctors: How Venezuela and Cuba Are Changing the World's Conception of Health Care.  From the book:

Che never lost sight of his original aspiration -- combining the humanitarian mission of medicine with the creation of a just society. When he addressed the Cuban militia on August 19, 1960, a year and a half after the triumph of the revolution, he chose to speak about "Revolutionary Medicine" and the possibility of educating a new kind of doctor....

 

Since then Cuban medicine and health services have been developed in a number of unique and revolutionary ways, but only now, nearly fifty years later, has Che's dream come to full fruition. Today it is literally true that compesinos, along with the children of impoverished working-class and indigenous communities, are becoming doctors and running, "with unreserved enthusiasm, to help their brothers."  

We had a keynote presentation at Penn State's Dickinson Law by a Penn State-Berks professor, Dr. Belen Rodriguez-Mourelo, who writes with great sensitivity in her book Encounters in Exile about the experience of the Cuban diaspora. (Her photo, demonstrating one of the many contrasts in imagery from Havana, is above.) Belen reminded us of the need for great care in our thinking about Cuba, to avoid treating renewed diplomatic relations as merely opening the doors to a new theme park.  Esas son palabras sabias - wise words.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/elder_law/2015/09/wise-words-on-cuba-health-care-aging.html

Current Affairs, Ethical Issues, Health Care/Long Term Care, International | Permalink

Comments

Cuba has been a fascination for me for years, and I was so glad to finally visit in early 2013. Their well-trained doctors have become trade exports for this island that really was kicked in the stomach when the Soviets left. A strong central government kicked up its rationing of food and gasoline, since the island was left without its formerly “reliable” supply of Soviet oil. Cuban doctors were and are being sent to Venezuela and Africa in exchange for their oil. Good for them.

Posted by: Jennifer Young | Sep 21, 2015 6:23:23 AM

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