Latin American Summary, June 22, 2024.
“The blockade continues to cause detrimental economic damage to the Cuban people and, by punishing it, those living in the United States are also denied what Cuba has to offer in terms of health, science and medicine.” Bita Amani
Since 2018, the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Sciences participates in delegations between Cuba and South-Central Los Angeles. These academic exchanges are part of a longer tradition of solidarity between teachers and students of the Department of Urban Public Health of the CDU and the National School of Public Health. The objectives are to teach students the Cuban Health System through lectures and site visits. Upon returning from their delegation, they invite the CDU community to attend and learn from the trips and apply the lessons learned locally.
For this year’s report, Dr. Bita Amani, a CDU professor who leads the Cuba Health Exchange, described the reasons why they continue to go to Cuba. He began by explaining that Cuba has a lot to teach and that the CDU wants to learn to better serve the surrounding south central Los Angeles community.
The program is co-taught by Professor Kathryn Hall-Trujillo, who has brought students to Cuba through universities and organizations for decades. Professor Kathryn Hall-Trujillo spoke of a resolution approved by the Cuban Ministry of Health and the Cuban school of public health in recognition of the academic exchange. She explained how the trips “have reminded students that what they saw and felt in Cuba that made them cry was the spirit of humanity that resides in all of us who choose to do the work of caring for others.”
Many lessons learned were discussed, the most important being solidarity. When Cuban doctors travel across the world to West Africa to fight Ebola, everyone benefits because the diseases don’t stay in one place. CDU students directly benefit by learning about Cuba’s experiences in the fight against Ebola and other infectious diseases they combat. Dr. Amani also talked about how the history of Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) It is also a reflection of that solidarity. ELAM has over 100 countries represented and has trained over 30,000 doctors and this mission is important to the surrounding community.
Since the start of the program, around 75 health professionals, including doctors, nurses, health and social workers, and research professors have participated in one of Cuba’s annual public health immersion courses for 2 weeks in Cuba . The students who attended this past March came and talked about their experiences, what they learned, and the Cuban model of, especially, maternal health care that they want to emulate in the South Central, where disparities in infant mortality persist. Former students and teachers who had also attended in the past also attended.
Attendees highlighted how the Cuban health system is free for Cubans… from prenatal care to death. Its extensive programs are recognized as some of the best in the world. By comparison, in the United States, where millions of people have no health care and millions pay exorbitant fees to insurance companies and hospitals, health care has been free in Cuba for 65 years. In 2022, the United States graduated 28,752 doctors (the number is limited by medical school spots to ensure maximum salaries) out of a population of 335 million, or 1 doctor for every 11,000 people. Cuba annually graduates 10,000 doctors out of a population of 11 million, or 1 doctor for every 198 people.
Students who recently participated in the two-week program, where they learned through 60 hours of lectures and two different daily visits, were impressed by the accessibility of medical care, the development of several Cuban anti-covid vaccines (which doctors They tested themselves before giving it to the people (up to 2 years), despite the US blockade. The money raised in the United States bought 6 million syringes, they carried out a successful vaccination campaign and shared their vaccines with the world. Cuban that has 451 polyclinics, 10,782 offices.
The recent approval of the Family Code expanded the rights not only of women, children and LGBTQ people, but of all Cubans. They stressed that it was a progressive reform.
Speakers also briefed the crowd on production in biotechnology divisions that produce higher-impact drugs.
Some of them prevent lung cancer, others, such as Heberprot-P, promote the healing of diabetic ulcers and reduce the risk of limb amputations as a result of diabetes in the long term. Cuba has reduced amputations by approximately 70%. However, this drug has been banned in the United States due to the lockdown, where it could help reduce the 75,000 amputations performed annually here as part of a massive diabetes epidemic, especially one among young people due to poor diet and food. scrap. The American people lose.
The class of ten students and four teachers also brought medical supplies delivered to hospitals and clinics by Not Just Tourists. “We feel safer in Cuba than in most places in the United States I have visited,” added one student. At the end of the meeting, they made a call to action to work together, as Cubans do, to improve public health and nursing in the United States.
Website: ushandsoffcubacommittee.com
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END THE US EMBARGO OF CUBA. Normalize Relations.
Remove Cuba from Washington’s list of nations supporting terrorism.
End the sanctions, trade & travel bans of Trump/Biden.
Source: Cubainformation
