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 Leticia
Artiles, PhD
Coordinator of Cuba’s
Gender and Public Health Network
Dr. Leticia Artiles, PhD in Health Sciences
and MS in Anthropology, is one of Cuba’s leading thinkers
on issues of gender and health. Five years ago, she and colleagues
set about creating the Gender and Public Health Network. We
share with you some of her reflections on its development
since then.
MR: How did the network get
started and why?
LA: The Cuban Gender and Public Health
Network was created within the Social Medicine Section of
the Cuban Society of Public Health and is the Cuban Chapter
of the Latin American Gender and Public Health Network of
the Latin American Association of Social Medicine (ALAMES).
It was founded on May 18, 1998, as we prepared to host here
in Havana the 8th ALAMES Congress and the 10th Congress
of IAHP (International Association of Health Policy).
We wanted to share our knowledge and concerns on the subject
of Gender and Health, encouraging an active exchange among
all professionals working in the field in Cuba and Latin
America. We also hoped to promote research, training and
expanded access to bibliographic materials.
Since then, the network has kept us in constant communication,
helping us to better approach the issues of gender and health
from our own individual viewpoints, but also from a broader
perspective, helping us to create alliances that facilitate
the introduction of gender as a social factor when we analyze
the process of health and disease within given population
groups.
The subject areas encompassed by the network are: training
of personnel; health policy and health policy reform; projects
and research; gender and health; epidemiology of disparities;
violence; mental health; sexual and reproductive health;
and community-oriented health care (family medicine).
A book was published, the first to be published about Cuba
by Celia Arduy, MSc and Ada Caridad Alfonso, MSc, with the
title Gender: Health and Everyday Life.
In February 2002, we began circulating a biweekly e-mail
newsletter called SaluCo, which has been very well received
here and internationally.
MR: What relations does the
network maintain with other organizations internationally
which have similar profiles?
LA: Internationally, we have close relations
with the Health Network of Latin American and Caribbean
Women (RSMLEAC), with the Women of Brazil Network, the Center
for Health Program and Analysis (CAPS) in Barcelona, and
the Collective Health Network in Brazil (ABRASCO). Here
in Cuba, we work with the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC),
the Cuban Society of Family Medicine (SOCUMEFA), the National
Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) and other institutions.
We have sponsored projects, scholarships and other activities
together on a regular basis, and maintain contact with 300
individuals and institutions through our network.
MR: Who are your members in
Cuba and how do they participate in the network?
LA: Our members cover a wide range: nutritionists,
health promoters, experts on infectious diseases, mental
health, primary care, and so forth. Also specialists at
the Center for Youth Studies, communications professionals,
etc. Participation is open and in our monthly meetings we
discuss scientific and theoretical aspects of gender and
health.
MR: How can a person or institution
become a member of the network?
LA: That’s easy. You simply need
to send an e-mail to myself or any of the deputy coordinators:
leticia@infomed.sld.cu
or Ada Alfonso, MSc aalfonso@infomed.sld.cu
or Cecilia Sarduy, MSc jlcomerc@ceniai.inf.cu.
Subscription to the network is free. 
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Interviews Index 