Political ecology of Cuba and its Health System

Introduction

Health in Cuba is properly conceived as a cultural product. Cuba's president has described culture as the sword and shield of the nation. The shield defends this cultural expression against competing visions at home and abroad. Moreover, health is one of the principal commitments of Cuban socialism and has become indispensable to that country's sense of the nation and source of legitimacy, but still Cuba citizen health issues are on peak.

DiscussionErikson D., Lord A. & Wolf, “Cuba's Social Services: A Review of Education, Health and Sanitation”, World Bank, Washington, (2002), Pp. 127-138

Cultural products that generate tourist interest (such as dance and medicine) are, by virtue of that interest, able to generate real capital foreign currency and symbolic capital in the form of value legitimacy in political and social realms. For example, Cuba has several private hospitals (co-owned by the Cuban government and foreign corporations or investors), most of which provide services to foreigners. Among the most sought-after medical specializations are the following: microsurgical treatment for retinitis pigments, glaucoma, and other eye diseases; treatment for skin diseases; cancer treatment (molecular biology to treat leukemia and lymphomas); open-heart surgery; and kidney transplantation.

As Wolf indicates, "parallel to the tourism expansion of the 1990s was Cuba's attempt to cash in on the extensive long-term investments it had made in medical technology. Two products in particular were marketed, a hepatitis-B vaccine and an anti-stroke medication (Bari, Pp. 130).

Among their most noted work, researchers at the CIGB have developed a recombinant vaccine against hepatitis-B or serum hepatitis, which is caused by a DNA virus. Cuba is also presently the sole producer of a vaccine against the bacteria that cause meningitis-B. The use of this vaccine in Cuba has reduced the incidence of the disease by 93 percent. Because "no vaccine against sero-group B meningococcal disease is currently licensed in the United States," the embargo prevents US citizens from having access to this innovation, an instance of the embargo's effects being reversed.

In addition, Cuba markets internationally of electrocardiograph diagnostic equipment for cardiovascular surgery. Some of these services are available to Cubans, although treatment in private hospitals and medicines for export constitute a level of care and service inaccessible by the Cuban population. Real capital generated by these hospitals and clinics flows into general government accounts (and not directed into or earmarked for the national health system). Not with standing this conspicuous affront to the promise of equality, these treatment options and medical innovations demonstrate a level of social development and scientific advancement that is indispensable to Cuba's national identity (Stafford et al., Pp. 40).

Garfield R. & Santana S., “the impact of the economic crisis and the US embargo on health in Cuba”, American Journal of Public Health Reviewed, Vol. 87 (1), (1997), Pp. 15-20

Cuba has sent aid in the form of medical personnel (to provide care and training) to underdeveloped countries and regions in crisis since 1963 (for a historical account of Cuban medical diplomacy). This trend of ...