Healthcare In Cuba
The Cuban government operates a national health system and assumes fiscal and administrative responsibility for the health care of all its citizens. There are no private hospitals or clinics as all health services are government-run. The present Minister for Public Health is Roberto Morales Ojeda.
An overall improvement in terms of disease and infant mortality rates was observed in the 1960s. AIDS is only one-sixth as common on a per-capita basis as in the United States. Like the rest of the Cuban economy, Cuban medical care suffered following the end of Soviet subsidies in 1991; the stepping up of the US embargo against Cuba at this time also had an effect. Cuba has one of the highest life expectancy rates in the region, with the average citizen living to 77.7 years old (in comparison to the United States' 77.4 years). However that information is provided via the Cuban government, which raises doubts over its accuracy.
Read more about Healthcare In Cuba: History, Present, Comparison of Pre- and Post-revolutionary Indices, Cuba and International Healthcare, Alternative Healthcare, Medical Research, Contrasting Views On Cuba's Health System
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“Education is a necessity, it helps to understand life. Like that compagnero in Cuba who talked about politics, back when they were on strike. He knew many things, that hijo de puta, and he unraveled the most confusing situations in a marvelous way. You could see each point in front of you on the line of his reasoning like rinsed laundry set up to dry; he explained things to you so clearly that you could grasp it like a good hunk of bread with your hand.”
—Jacques Roumain (1907–1945)