Cuban science

By March 21, Cuba had sent healthcare professionals to 37 countries to collaborate in combating the pandemic. Italy received 53 Cuban medics who had previously worked in West Africa during the deadly Ebola outbreak of 2014.

Cuba also stepped into the breach in mid-March when a cruise ship with over 600 mostly British passengers and a handful of Covid-19 cases were left stranded for a week after the US and neighbouring countries denied them permission to dock. Cuba let them in, treated the sick and assisted their transfer on to flights home.

Thus, Cuba is taking a leading role in tackling this global pandemic. Just how can a small, Caribbean island, underdeveloped by centuries of colonialism and imperialism, and subject to punitive, extra-territorial sanctions by the United States for 60 years, have so much to offer the world?

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, capitalist governments have adopted emergency powers, introduced as ‘a last resort’ in societies where neoliberalism has put down deep economic and ideological roots. For decades we have been told that only the free market ensures efficiency. Now this global health crisis brings the very concept into question. The Cuban contribution demonstrates that a socialist state can achieve efficient outcomes, measured by societal need, not private profit.

After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the revolutionary government developed a free, universal healthcare system, attaining more doctors per person than any other country in the world. This has been facilitated by free, universal access to education at all levels. The benefits are distributed globally; some 400,000 Cuban medical professionals have worked overseas in six decades, mainly in poor countries, providing healthcare that is free at the point of delivery.

Cuba is recognised globally both for its infectious disease controls and disaster risk reduction, usually in response to climate-related and natural disasters. These experiences are being harnessed to combat Covid-19. The Cuban healthcare system seeks prevention over cure, with a network of family doctors who are responsible for community health and live among their patients. To combat the outbreak, healthcare personnel are conducting door-to-door health checks, testing, contact tracing, quarantining, establishing a registry of those with underlying health conditions who may need additional attention.

This is accompanied by public education campaigns and daily updates through a new app covid-19-InfoCu on Infomed, the country’s public health internet platform. By 22 March, Cuba had 35 confirmed cases of Covid-19, one fatality, and nearly 1,000 patients under observation in hospital, around one-third of them foreigners and over 30,000 people under surveillance at home. On March 23, Cuba closed its borders to all non-resident foreigners in order to control the outbreak, a tough decision given the importance of tourism revenue to the state.

Excerpted from: 'Cuban Medical Science in the Service of Humanity'.

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