PAHO Declares Cuban Pediatrician
“Hero of the Americas”
 Dr.
José Jordán, has been honored with
the Public Health Hero of the Americas Award by the Pan
American Health Organization (PAHO) in the organization’s
centennial. He was one of eleven public health figures honoured.
Dr. Jordán, a practicing paediatrician since 1944,
is President of Cuba’s National Council of Medical
Societies and a member of the Cuban Society of Medical Ethics.
He has also been a member of the WHO Board of Experts on
Injury Prevention and of the Board of the International
Association of Pediatrics. He is perhaps best known for
his longitudinal national studies on child growth and development,
and was for many years a consultant to PAHO in this field.
“I have treated children for more than 50 years,
which was its own reward, but I never expected to receive
an international prize as well,” commented Dr. Jordán.
Cuba: Best Health Indicators in the Region
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (CEPAL/ECLA) has published five-year
statistics showing Cuba with the best health indicators
for the period 1995-2000, among 20 nations in the region:
| |
Infant
Mortality Rate (under 1 year of age) |
7.5
per 1,000 live births (*) |
Maternal
Mortality Rate |
32
per 1,000 live births |
|
Physicians
per inhabitants |
1
for 176 inhabitants |
|
Life
expectancy at birth |
76
years |
Cuban authorities have stated that what is even more significant
is that these indicators have been attained while the country
faced the harshest economic crisis ever.
(*) In 2001, Cuba registered 6.2 per 1,000 live births.
More U.S. Students for Medical School in
Cuba
A group of 23 North American students
arrived in Cuba this fall to begin medical studies at the
Latin American Medical School in Havana. This brings to
60 U.S. medical students on scholarship at the school, where
over 6,100 students are now enrolled from 24 nations of
the Americas and Africa. As is the case with their peers,
the U.S. students come primarily from under-served areas,
and have made a commitment to serve these communities upon
graduation.
Cuban Union Members Donate to Health Programs
In late 1993, Cuba’s National Cancer Program was
prioritized—but also feeling the effects of the worst
economic crisis in the country’s history. It became
more difficult than ever for the public health ministry
to procure the necessary equipment, spare parts and medications
needed for patient care. At that point, employees in tourism
represented by the Commerce and Services Workers’
Union, decided to donate a portion of their tips in hard
currency to the cancer wards of Cuban hospitals. Over the
last few years, other unions whose members earn hard currency
bonuses—and some who don’t—followed suit,
including labor in the tobacco industry, public administration,
transportation, culture, construction, and communications.
The Ministry of Public Health now reports that these donations
(1993-2002) total 12 million US dollars, and have declared
them decisive in the recovery of the national cancer program,
and others such as the national maternal-child program.
The donations have been put to use primarily to buy chemotherapy
drugs, radioactive isotopes, neonatal ventilators, incubators
and medical instruments.
Comprehensive Health Program for Middle
Aged Women
Sponsored by the Group on Climacterium and Menopause
of the Cuban Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 30 experts
are working on a program to improve the overall health of
middle-aged women. The goals of the program are “to
increase attention to middle-aged women with a personalized
and humanistic vision of comprehensive health care that
contributes to improving their quality of life and their
active participation in society”.
Not only does the program aim at better health care for
women at every level of the Cuban public health system and
to increase education concerning their sexual and reproductive
rights; but also to promote research and health education
on the subject, and to involve women, their partners, family
and community, in the decisions and actions that have an
impact on their quality of life.
Cuba: Lowest TB Mortality in Latin America
Cuba has a tuberculosis mortality rate of 7.9 per
100,000 inhabitants, the lowest in Latin America,
according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The rates
for other countries of the region vary widely: Uruguay,
19.4; Chile, 19.9; Costa Rica, 22; El Salvador, 24; Venezuela,
27; Argentina, 31.8; Brazil, 47; Honduras, 62; and Peru,
151.
Dr. Libertad Carreras, Chair of Cuba’s National Immunology
Group, said Cuba has had success in carefully implementing
the Direct Observation Treatment Strategy (DOTS) for treatment,
recommended by the WHO. TB treatment is ambulatory and free
of charge in the Caribbean island, and consists of administering
four specific medications during 30 weeks under the control
of a family doctor-and-nurse team. The TB control program
has been in effect since 1971, and over 90% of patients
show full recovery. 
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