Cuba Strengthens Health Care on World Health Day

Implementation of actions with a multisectoral approach to foster citizen well-being constitutes an integrated strategy to strengthen universal health coverage in Cuba, a country that will celebrate World Health Day on April 7.

Cuba, in order to increase the level of resolution of medical problems, as well as to increase satisfaction with the care offered, is currently improving the Family Physician and Nurse Program, said Maria Elena Soto, Head of the Department of Primary Care of the Ministry of Public Health of Cuba (MINSAP).

The consolidation of the management of the municipalities, polyclinics and basic working groups, made up of experts, 96 per cent of whom are high-level specialists in Comprehensive General Medicine (MGI) with scientific category, is particularly noteworthy.

The continuity of an investment and maintenance plan to improve infrastructure and working conditions in clinics and polyclinics is also among Cuba's priorities for the benefit of the population's health.

This is complemented by the current review of consulting offices that serve the largest number of people and exceed the average of 1,200 for each one, to reorganize services and ensure their quality.

Encouraging individual responsibility is a key aspect for maintaining universal health, which is why Cuba provides information to the population on their duties and rights in terms of a better quality of life, explained Miriam Valdes, director of the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Unit of MINSAP.

Community and intersectoral participation in addressing social determinants from primary health care is also being consolidated, added Valdes, on the occasion of the World Day.

There are many significant results in this area of health, including the existence of more than 10,800 clinics throughout the country, the prevalence of one doctor per 122 inhabitants and 7, 4 nurses for 1,000 inhabitants to ensure universal health, stressed Soto.

She also stressed the technologies available to primary care for the development of predictive examinations of cancer, such as Heberprot P for diabetic foot ulcer, Heberferon for the treatment of skin cancer and the therapeutic vaccine for lung cancer, Cimavax EGF among Cuba's achievements.

Soto pointed out that in late 2018 an infant mortality rate of four per 1,000 live births was reached in Cuba and during the year more than 84 million consultations were carried out.

Currently, the immune level of the Cuban population is 98 percent, 14 infectious diseases have been eliminated, as well as 29 transmissible ones, and life expectancy is 78.45 years, said the expert.

World Health Day has been celebrated every April 7 since 1948 and this year, for the second consecutive year, the slogan is 'Universal Health: for all, everywhere.