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CUBA HEALTH STATISTICS
Summary Report of American Association of World Health on
Impact of U.S. Embargo on Cuban Health
In 1989, the World Health Organization extolled Cuba's health
care system as a "model for the world." Cuba, with its nutritional safety net,
extensive system of family doctors and sophisticated tertiary care facilities,
had achieved the highest quality of life indicators in Latin America, including
an infant mortality rate 30 points below the average, on a par with the
developed world.
But ten years later two studies, conducted by the American
Public Health Association (APHA) and the American Association for World Health (AAWH),
indicate the Cuban people, especially the children, are now facing dangerous
shortages of medicines and medical supplies.
-Malnutrition-
The outright ban on the sale of American foodstuffs has contributed to
serious nutritional deficits, particularly among pregnant women, leading to an
increase in low birth weight babies. In addition, food shortages were linked to
a devastating outbreak of neuropathy in 1993-94 affecting the tens of thousands.
By one estimate daily caloric intake dropped 33 percent between 1989 and 1993.
-Water Quality-
The embargo severely restricts Cuba's access to water treatment chemicals and
spare parts for the island's water supply system, leading to serious cutbacks in
supplies of safe drinking water, which in turn has become a factor in the rising
incidence of morbidity and mortality rates from water borne diseases.
-Medicines and Equipment-
Of the 1,297 medications available in Cuba in 1991, physicians now have access
to only 889, and many of these are available only intermittently. Because U.S.
companies develop most major new drugs, Cuban physicians have access to less
than 50 percent of the new medicines available on the world market. Due to the
direct or indirect effects of the embargo, the most routine medical supplies are
in short supply or entirely absent from some Cuban clinics.
-Medical Information-
Though information materials have been exempt from the U.S. trade embargo since
1988, the AAWH study concludes that in practice very little such information
goes into Cuba or comes out of the island due to travel restrictions, currency
regulations and shipping difficulties. Scientists and citizens of both countries
suffer as a result. Paradoxically, the embargo harms some U.S. citizens by
denying them access to the latest advances in Cuban medical research, including
such products as meningitis B vaccine, cheaply produced interferon and
streptokinase.
-Ban on Subsidiary Trade-
The 1992 Cuba Democracy Act (CDA) imposed a ban on subsidiary trade with
Cuba, severely constraining Cuba's ability to import medicines and medical
supplies from third country sources.
-Licensing-
Under the CDA, The U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments are allowed in
principle to license individual sales of medicines and medical supplies,
ostensibly for humanitarian reasons to mitigate the embargo's impact on health
care delivery. In practice, according to U.S. corporate executives, the
licensing provisions are so arduous as to have had the opposite effect, actively
discouraging any medical commerce. The number of such licenses granted - or even
applied for - since 1992 is miniscule. Numerous licenses for medical equipment
and medicines have been denied on the grounds that these exports "would be
detrimental to U.S. foreign policy interests."
-Shipping-
Since 1992, the embargo has prohibited ships from loading or unloading cargo in
U.S. ports for 180 days after delivering cargo to Cuba, strongly discouraging
shippers from delivering medical equipment to Cuba.
-Humanitarian Aid-
Charity is an inadequate alternative to free trade in medicines, medical
supplies and food. Donations from U.S. non-governmental organizations and
international agencies do not begin to compensate for the hardships inflicted by
the embargo on the Cuban public Health System.
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*WEBMASTERS NOTE - December 2003. I have
significant personal experience taking humanitarian medical equipment, medicines
and supplies to Cuba under U.S. Treasury Department licenses. I can tell you
first hand, that even though U.S. law provides for these humanitarian efforts,
the U.S. government has gone out of its way to create obstacles to such efforts.
This is particularly true after George W. Bush came into office. My personal
experience with the present administration is that the various governmental
departments have lied to me, lied about me, used deception at every turn, used
every trick in the book to create administrative obstacles to my legally helping
the Cuban people with medical equipment and supplies, and lied about the state
of Cuba and Cuba's health care system. I think you can gather that I have no
good things to say about the U.S. government's (and most especially George W.
Bush - who I originally supported) actions against Cuba.
Gregory T. Absten
Webmaster
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