Imagine: Cuba

[Judi Lynn]

7. Found an article you may not have seen: "Cuba's Model of Development: Lessons for Global Education"

The Shifting Policy Landscape of Development Education
Autumn 2011.
Cuba's Model of Development: Lessons for Global Education

~snip~
Cuba’s Development Model

From the outset of the Cuban revolution in 1959 education has been a priority for its leaders. In 1961 Cuba launched a year long literacy campaign to address the high levels of illiteracy that were part of the social neglect characteristic of the pre-revolutionary period under US-sponsored dictator Fulgencio Batista. The literacy campaign was a great success and in 2011 the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) revealed that the ‘Cuban Literacy Program’ was implemented in 12 other Latin American states with plans to expand this model to other regions (Cuba Sí, summer 2011:6). UNESCO also praised Cuba’s expenditure on education which according to the United Nations Human Development Report 2010 was 13.8 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to 5.2 per cent in Brazil and 4.9 per cent in Argentina in the same period; countries with much bigger economies in the American Hemisphere. Cuba’s commitment to education as an essential human right available to all citizens means that it is available free at the point of delivery. Education in Cuba is not a privilege, particularly at third level, available only to those who can afford to pay for it as is the case in Ireland and Britain.

Cuba has a similarly socialised approach to healthcare with just under 10 per cent of GDP spent on health (UN, 2010) compared to 6.1 per cent in Ireland, 6.9 per cent in Britain and 7.1 per cent in the United States. As a result Cuba can boast of a ‘developed world’ life expectancy rate of 79 years which is just behind that of the US (79.6) Britain (79.8) and Ireland (80.3). But the success of Cuba’s health system is more than just a matter of statistics and free access; it is built upon an effective public model that Barry and Lynch suggest is ‘a protective and supportive system for Cuban citizens, run by the state, but in a decentralised and integrated system’ (2008: 156). The preventative component of the Cuban health system is key and is constructed around an effective primary care programme which not only prevents illness but promotes healthy lifestyles. As Barry and Lynch argue:

“health is viewed as enabling people to achieve their full capacity, irrespective of age or ability, and with full cognisance of the wider determinants of health, such as housing, education, nutrition and exercise” (2008: 157).

However, the benefits of Cuba’s system are felt well beyond its own borders. In 1999 Cuba established a Latin American School of Medicine which trains doctors and medical personnel from other parts of the Americas, including the United States, and Africa. Almost 10,000 students from 29 countries are enrolled in the school with students committing themselves to return to their countries and work in communities lacking adequate healthcare (Medical Co-operation with Cuba, 2011). Cuba itself now has as many doctors servicing its 11 million citizens as there are in Britain meeting the needs of 60 million people. Michael Tynan, Emeritus Professor of Paediatric Cardiology at King’s College, London has been engaging in medical exchanges with Cuba since 1987 and found that ‘Cuba’s commitment to public health has been the heartbeat of their socialist programme – both domestically and internationally – since their struggle against Batista in the 1950s’. He adds that ‘[c]onsidering the intensification of the blockade, Cuba’s achievements in the field of healthcare – particularly in the areas of infant mortality, life expectancy and internationalism – are nothing short of miraculous’ (Cuba Sí, summer 2011: 30).

Cuba’s internationalism includes the Henry Reeve Brigade, a specialist medical team of 1,200 personnel set up in 2005 to respond to humanitarian emergencies and disasters anywhere in the world. In 2005, it was the first team on the ground following the Pakistani earthquake in Kashmir and six months later the last to leave. More recently, Cuba’s medical personnel were the first on the scene in the Haitian earthquake in 2010 because they already had a 350-strong team on the ground which immediately went to work in ‘providing primary care and obstetrical services as well as operating to restore the sight of Haitians blinded by eye diseases’ (Aljazeera, 16 February 2010). This team was later strengthened by Cuba after the earthquake struck and treated 30,000 cholera patients between October and December 2010 (Independent, 26 December 2010).

It was notable that, while the efforts of Western development agencies in Haiti were highly praised, the work of the Cuban medics was largely ignored by the media. Aljazeera was one of the few news organisations to highlight Cuba’s efforts in Haiti noting that ‘their pivotal work in the health sector has received scant media coverage’ (16 February 2010). The London Independent also acknowledged the media’s sidelining of Cuba’s medical work in Haiti with a piece titled ‘Cuban medics put the world to shame’. It placed Cuba’s work in Haiti in an international context noting that ‘[a] third of Cuba's 75,000 doctors, along with 10,000 other health workers, are currently working in 77 poor countries, including El Salvador, Mali and East Timor’ (Ibid). In addition to the work of the Henry Reeve Brigade, Cuba’s medical efforts have included an international programme called ‘Operation Miracle’, which ‘began with ophthalmologists treating cataract sufferers in impoverished Venezuelan villages in exchange for oil. This initiative has restored the eyesight of 1.8 million people in 35 countries, including that of Mario Teran, the Bolivian sergeant who killed Che Guevara in 1967’ (Ibid).

More:
http://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue13-viewpoint2?page=show

(That last line's a killer, isn't it? Wow.)

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