MEDICC Programs: A Global Alliance

Today it takes a lot more than “a village” to ensure health for all:  it takes a global alliance of people like you who care about health care—everywhere.  People motivated less by Ebola scare stories, and more by seeing that every parent can send their child to the doctor, that every child has a healthy chance at life.  It’s not only right, it’s possible.  And MEDICC—Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba—believes Cuba has something to share in this battle to make health care everyone’s birthright.

Why Cuba?

Worldwide, 1.3 billion people are without health care, over 47 million in the USA alone.  They are the ‘invisible’ poor, including working families and millions of children who don’t live to reach school age.  For them, the miracles of modern medicine are a cruel pipedream. But there are bright spots in this dim picture, and Cuba is one of them.  The island’s experience and health professionals’ commitment make the country a practical partner in efforts to radically improve health in over 50 countries.

MEDICC: Building Bridges to ‘Health for All’

Since its founding in 1997, MEDICC has been building bridges:  until 2004, through electives in Cuba for over 1,000 students and faculty from 125 US schools of medicine, nursing and health sciences. 

Today, MEDICC’s bridge-building is focused on strengthening the global alliance for health equity by bringing Cuba’s experience and medical education to a broader public, linking other efforts with those of Cuban health professionals worldwide, and leveraging new resources for developing countries’ public health physicians and nurses trained in Cuba.

"The most important contribution Cuba has made to global health is its example – that you can introduce the notion of a right to health care and wipe out the diseases of poverty." Paul Farmer, MD, Partners in Health & Harvard University

You can help by supporting the MEDICC programs on these pages....