BBC World Service special programmes on Cuba's healthcare
News from Cuba | Monday, 14 December 2015
The BBC World Service visited Cuba to record two 30 minute special programmes on Cuba's exemplary healthcare.
Episode 1 - Health in Cuba: Prevention better than cure - click here to listen
"Cuba is not a rich country but it has free, universal healthcare and some impressive health statistics. In the first of two, special programmes from Havana, Claudia Hammond investigates how Cuba manages to have lower rates of infant mortality and similar life expectancy, to the United States. Is it the focus on prevention, that is the key – and could other countries learn from the Cuban experience?" BBC World Service
This BBC special programme on Cuban health focuses on the emphasis on prevention, the impact of the illegal blockade on access to medicines and equipment, and the how Cuba's public sector works effectively and cooperates across a range of sectors.
Episode 2 - Why Cubans are dying of rich people's diseases - click here to listen
"The Cuban health service delivers some impressive results, for a fraction of the amount spent on healthcare in wealthier countries. But it also faces serious problems. Cubans no longer die of infectious illnesses – free, universal healthcare and a countrywide vaccination programme have put an end to that – but they are dying of heart disease, stroke and cancer, the same diseases that claim lives in high-income countries. It has been said that Cubans live like the poor and die like the rich. In this second of two special programmes from Havana, Claudia Hammond reports on how the Cuban health service is responding to these new challenges." BBC World Service
In the second Cuba special, BBC World Service focuses on how Cuba, despite being a developing country and under a half-century blockade, has demographics more associated with developed countries, such as an ageing population, due to their world-class health and public sector services created by the Revolution.
