DOCSLIB.ORG

Health Workforce History Made in Havana

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Health Workforce History Made in Havana Health Workforce History Made in Havana Text & Photos By Gloria Giraldo & Conner Gorry July 25, 2007 – Local and international health authorities, family, friends, colleagues, medical educators, ambassadors, and press packed Havana’s Karl Marx Theater on July 24th to witness history unfold as 2,188 Cuban- trained health professionals received their hard-fought degrees. The evening was historical for several reasons, but will likely go down in the annals for one: eight new doctors trained on full six-year scholarships at Cuba’s Latin American Medical School (ELAM) hail from the United States. This is not the first graduation of US doctors from the ELAM – that distinction belongs to Dr Cedric Edwards originally of New Orleans and part of the school’s first graduation in 2005, now doing his residency at Montefiore Hospital in New York – but it is the largest. The eight students from California, New York, and Minnesota entered the ELAM pledging to work in underserved communities in the USA and now, as doctors, prepare to transform commitment into action. The Reverend Lucius Walker Jr., Director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) which coordinates ELAM scholarships for US students, was on hand to commemorate the event (see photos below). All told, 25 countries, including Cuba, were represented at the graduation, as new doctors throughout the western hemisphere and Africa, also trained at the ELAM, received their degrees. In total, 1,220 Cuban-trained doctors from Cuba, the USA, and the Global South, were honored at the Havana event. This represents only a fraction of the total number of Cuban-trained doctors graduating this summer: 2,470 Cuban doctors and 1,561 foreign doctors received degrees around the country. The evening was historical for other reasons as well: The 646 For exclusive interviews with the US and other university-level allied health professionals present constituted graduates, see the Fall issue of our sister publication the largest graduating class of health professionals in four MEDICC Review, available October 1 at specialties in the history of Havana’s Higher Institute of www.medicc.org/mediccreview. Medical Sciences – which currently offers university-level degrees in 21 different allied health specialties, though only four were represented at this ceremony.. Added to this were 118 new dentists and 204 nurses, rounding out the graduation of Cuban-trained health workforce, destined to work at home and abroad. ©MEDICC, 2007 Health Workforce History Made in Havana Havana, July 24, 2007: 25 countries with graduates Argentina Cuba Mexico Belize Dominican Republic Nicaragua Bolivia Ecuador Nigeria Brazil Equatorial Guinea Panama Cape Verde El Salvador Paraguay Chile Guatemala Peru Colombia Guinea Bissau Uruguay Costa Rica Honduras USA Venezuela 204 New Cuban nurses graduated in the ceremony on July 24th “These new nurses constitute only a small fraction of the total number of nurses in the country. We need to increase our efforts to attract more youth to this noble profession to respond to our needs.” – Dr Jorge Gonzalez Perez Rector, Higher Institute of Medical Sciences, Havana New nurses Irenia Acosta Padron & Iliannys Brown New nurses Lemaus Sarmiento Martinez Hernandez & Yenisley with their mom Hernandez Leon and dad respectively ©MEDICC, 2007 Health Workforce History Made in Havana “For there to be total health, there needs to be oral health. But in many countries, poverty and marginalization impede 118 new dentists access to basic health graduated in services. In these places, oral health is unheard of…if Havana on there’s nothing to put in July 24th your mouth, it’s highly unlikely there will be health care for your mouth…” – Dr Jorge Gonzalez Perez Rector, Higher Institute of Medical Sciences, Havana Number of dentists per population in Cuba: 9.5 per 10,000 population which means 1 dentist for every 1,049 patients. Source: Annual Health Statistics Yearbook, 2006. National Health Statistics Bureau. Havana: 2007. New dentist Guido Romulo Wever New dentist Juan Cedeño Mendez University-Level Allied Health Sciences • 646 Cuban graduates in the following areas: o Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation o Blood Bank/Haemotology o Clinical Laboratory o Diagnostic Imaging ©MEDICC, 2007 Health Workforce History Made in Havana Graduates from countries with a critical shortage of health care providers • WHO estimates a global shortage of more than 4 million doctors, nurses, midwives and others. • 57 countries fall below a threshold of 2.02 to 2.54 health care professionals per 1000 population. – Source: The World Health Report 2006 Graduates from countries with a critical shortage of health care providers: Peru “We want to bring health care to impoverished rural communities and marginal urban communities. We’ve been trained in Cuba’s primary care-oriented model of healthcare delivery, emphasizing prevention and promotion, so we have the tools to make it happen.” Johnny E. Carrillo Prada, (left) student leader who is helping organize ELAM graduates and students to bring health care services to impoverished communities in his native Peru. Dr Carrillo is from the northern Peru province of Lambayaque, in the district of Illimo; his home town has a population of about 6000. Countries graduating over 90 new doctors from the ELAM: Paraguay, Guatemala, Nigeria, Honduras, & El Salvador New Paraguayan doctors from left to right: New Guatemalan doctors from left to right: Carlos M. Diaz, F. Alfredo Velasquez Melver G. Chox Lopez, Cesar F. Tilian Cobex, & Gloria R. Tellez Maria A. Cabrera Brizuela & Wilson D. Loarca Lux ©MEDICC, 2007 Health Workforce History Made in Havana Dr David Herrera, 13th son in a family of 16 children from the province of Antioquia, Colombia: “This has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience…At 16 I would have never dreamed of becoming a doctor. Today, I plan to go where few doctors want to go, to some of Colombia’s most remote regions, where Colombia’s minorities suffer for lack of health services among many other socioeconomic needs… that’s where I want to work.” Nigeria graduated 92 new doctors Cuba´s Ambassador to Nigeria Elio Olivia told the press earlier this week in Abuja that the Nigerian students have been studying medicine on the island for the last seven years. ©MEDICC, 2007 Health Workforce History Made in Havana Families came from far and wide to see their children make the official passage from student to doctor. Mother of new Dr Wendy Perez New Dr Simisola Oyewumi from came from the Mosquitia, Honduras Lagos, Nigeria is all smiles. to see her daughter graduate. Dr Valbuena, Dr Blanco and Dr Buitrago from Colombia ©MEDICC, 2007 Health Workforce History Made in Havana Eight US students graduated on July 24th in Havana “Many doctors and hospitals in the US have shown special interest in working with the students that come from the ELAM program because they have specialist training in primary and preventive care, a global perspective about health that Cuba teaches that is harder to find in the US, and they are fully bilingual – worth its weight in gold in the United States health care system.” - Ellen Bernstein, IFCO/Pastors for Peace Dr Melissa Barber Bronx, NY Dr Toussaint Reynolds Massapequa, NY Dr Jose De Leon Oakland, CA Dr Wing Wu St. Paul, MN Dr Carmen Landau Oakland, CA Dr Teresa Thomas Bronx, NY Dr Evelyn Erickson NY, NY Dr Kenya Bingham Alameda, CA (from left) Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr., Director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace spoke passionately to the new doctors, bringing special congratulations from 28 members of the US Congress. Students interested in applying to attend the ELAM are invited to visit the IFCO website: Interested in applying? Click here! For more information: Latin American Medical School MEDICC Review Training Physicians for Global Health Studying Medicine in Cuba: First Impressions ©MEDICC, 2007 Health Workforce History Made in Havana .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • For Immediate Release Contact: Rasheedah Ali (404) 574-6724 [email protected]
    For Immediate Release Contact: Rasheedah Ali (404) 574-6724 [email protected] On the Road with ¡SALUD! Los Angeles, May 16: Actor Danny Glover and Dr Linda Rosenstock, Dean of UCLA’s School of Public Health, welcomed a full house on May 14th at the new Billy Wilder Theater in Los Angeles for the city’s premiere of ¡SALUD! The award-winning feature documentary exploring Cuba’s contribution to global health is distributed by MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba). In her engaging opening remarks, Dr Rosenstock spoke of the film’s importance and presented the evening’s hosts, who in addition to Glover included Gore Vidal, Oliver Stone, Sarah Pillsbury, Andy Spahn, Stephen Rivers, Marjorie Tabankin, and California Assemblywoman Karen Bass. “¡SALUD!”, noted Glover, “calls up the power of imagination to change our lives ourselves, and it speaks to what Dr (Martin Luther) King called the need for a new moral imperative, a set of values to guide us.” Assemblywoman Bass, the film’s Director Connie Field, and Executive Producer Gail Reed joined in a lively post-screening exchange with the audience. Bass, also a MEDICC board member, noted that 15 Californians are among the 90 US medical students now training in Cuba, who have pledged to practice in underserved communities after graduation. “Our job,” she said, “is to help them make good on that promise.” On to DC, New Orleans, and Atlanta… Dr Mirta Roses, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), presented ¡SALUD! at PAHO headquarters in Washington, DC on April 26th. According to Dr Roses: “¡SALUD! brings us the story of what one country—a poor one in terms of GDP—has launched in primary health care and the massive training of human resources for health, a program of solidarity and technical cooperation among countries.” She called human resources central to the strategy of strengthening health systems and meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
    [Show full text]
  • Cuba's Latin American Medical School: Can Socially-Accountable
    Feature Cuba’s Latin American Medical School: Can Socially-Accountable Medical Education Make a Difference? Conner Gorry MA After graduating more than 12,000 doctors since its founding in acterized by curricula that transfer learning from the classroom to 1999, Cuba’s Latin American Medical School (ELAM, the Spanish the community while emphasizing equity, they formed a consor- acronym) is tackling one of its greatest challenges to date: how to tium in 2008 to begin strengthening their evidence base, voice track graduates from over 65 countries and measure their impact and infl uence. on health outcomes and policy in their local contexts? This Training for Health Equity Network (THEnet) provides a ELAM, with its main campus at a former naval academy on the framework for such socially-accountable medical schools to outskirts of Havana, extends scholarships to young people from share tools, data, and experience in an effort to promote the around the world—most of whom otherwise would not have the innovations needed to confront the global crisis in human means to become doctors. The ELAM curriculum is a six-year resources for health. The fi rst step to begin evaluating impact course of study designed to graduate physicians who will provide across such diverse contexts and cultures—THEnet schools relevant, quality care while fostering equity and improving indi- are found in Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas— vidual and population health outcomes.[1] ELAM’s framework for is learning where, how and with whom graduates from these recruiting, educating, and retaining students is intended to rein- schools are working.
    [Show full text]
  • Cuba & Global Health
    Cuba & Global Health Cuba & the Global Health Workforce: Health Professionals Abroad Cuba’s contribution to the developing world’s health workforce has been essentially a practical one, focusing on health care delivery and medical education: since 1960, over 100,000 Cuban health professionals have served in 101 countries, staffing public health infrastructures; and over 21,000 students from Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Caribbean are currently enrolled in Cuban medical schools, not counting those in nursing and allied health professions (1)(2). This collaboration has evolved over time. The first Cuban medical team was sent to earthquake- devastated Chile in 1960, when the two governments had no formal relations. Such disaster relief missions were dispatched to another 16 countries over the next decades, but were soon overtaken by a more long-term modality: by virtue of government-to-government agreements, Cuban health professionals (the vast majority physicians) began providing health care to underserved populations and regions in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia (3). Since the 1963 request from the Algerian government of Prime Minister Ahmed Ben Bella (bereft of physicians at the end of French occupation) another 100 governments have initiated pacts with Cuba for a sustained presence of Cuban health professionals in their countries’ health care delivery programs: six in the 1960s; 22 in the 70s; 11 in the 80s; 47 in the 90s; and 15 since 2000 (1)(4)(5). The fact that half this cooperation began in the nineties speaks to developments during that time in Cuba’s own health system, which made larger numbers of physicians available for international service and also reinforced Cuban health authorities’ commitment to primary care as key to improving health status.
    [Show full text]
  • “Exploring Health, Wellness & Culture in Cuba” a MEDICC Gateways
    “Exploring Health, Wellness & Culture in Cuba” A MEDICC Gateways Professional Research Opportunity February 16-22, 2020 Join MEDICC for an insider’s look at intersections between health and culture in Cuba’s unique and historic capital! MEDICC welcomes all whose area of expertise and/or profession is medicine, health or wellness; as well as artists, photographers, actors, musicians and other cultural workers whose professional life includes culture as a component of health, contributing to improved social determinants of health or individual/population wellbeing. An extraordinary itinerary is in the works on the tail end of Havana’s 500th Anniversary year, including learning from participatory community projects, natural/traditional medical therapies, artists’ cooperatives, mental health centers, neighborhood family doctor-and-nurse offices, children’s theater ….and finally, the HistArtMed program that brings together Cuban health professionals and the country’s vibrant culture, past and present. Draft Program in Cuba (Subject to change) Sunday, February 16 Morning / Afternoon ARRIVAL Check-in Hotel Sevilla Morning / Afternoon Orientation Meeting: Background on Cuban social development and your program, Hotel Sevilla Afternoon / Evening Welcome Lunch or Dinner Monday, February 17 Morning Primary care in Cuba’s National Health System Visit a community-based multispecialty polyclinic and a family doctor-and-nurse office nearby. Both are accredited for teaching medical and other health professionals. Take time to talk with patients, too.
    [Show full text]
  • Socioeconomic Status and Perceived Health-Related Quality of Life in Chile
    Original Research Socioeconomic Status and Perceived Health-related Quality of Life in Chile Isabel Matute MPH, Soledad Burgos PhD, Tania Alfaro MD MPH ABSTRACT RESULTS The sample comprised 4473 respondents, 51.6% women, INTRODUCTION Changes in the conceptualization of health and ill- median age 47.8 years. The probability of poor quality of life was ness have led to development of theory and methods to study health- higher in persons with only primary school education, those not in related quality of life. One instrument used frequently to measure this the workforce and those whose monthly income was below 100,815 concept is the SF-12 survey, included in the Second National Health Chilean pesos (US$140); the effect was stronger for physical health- Survey carried out in Chile between 2009 and 2010. related quality of life (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.8–4.2; OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2–2.3 and OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.3–3.8, respectively) than for mental health- OBJECTIVE Estimate the association between socioeconomic status related quality of life (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1–1.8; OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.2–2.2 stratifi ers and health-related quality of life in the adult population resid- and OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1–3.0, respectively). ing in Chile. CONCLUSIONS The probability of poor health-related quality of life is METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study of a subsample of higher in the worst socioeconomic status strata, and the effect is most the National Health Survey, in the population aged ≥25 years.
    [Show full text]
  • Letters to the Editor
    Letters to the Editor To the Editors of MEDICC Review: Of particular interest is the ed States for all but their first year of edu- University Polyclinic Medical cation. Their educational and clinical home The fall 2008 issue of MEDICC Review will be the community health center (simi- (Teaching for Health Equity: Changing Training Program (UPMTP) lar to a polyclinic), and they will spend time Paradigms of Medical Education) treats in Cuba, which moves the “back-rotating” to hospitals for limited pe- the rarely discussed topic of “teaching for principle site of medical riods and specialty exposure. The school health equity”. Within medical education, education out of the hospital has yet to have any graduates or any em- there is discussion of medical ethics, pro- and into the polyclinic ulators, so it is hard to speak definitively fessionalism, and, sometimes, services about how it will fare in the US medical to the underserved. The broad issue an outpatient base for medical education educational and practice environment, but of equity—health equity—receives little would greatly increase the capacity of any it does represent the boldest effort in the attention, either in the design of medi- institution or country. Secondly, the focus United States to depart from the traditional cal education programs or their con- of education in ambulatory facilities is far Flexnerian medical center-based model of tent. Medical education systems in most more congruent with the population’s ex- medical education and, like Cuba’s Univer- countries are wedded to traditional so- perience with health, the vast majority of sity Polyclinic Medical Training Program, it cial and economic structures that usually which does not occur in hospitals.
    [Show full text]
  • Cuban Health Care: a Work in Progress
    MEDICC Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba Cuban Health Care: A Work in Progress Since 1959, Cuba has pursued a health strategy founded Did You Know? on universal access, prevention, and community-based medicine. Launched with the Rural Health Service in Cuba is among the top 20 countries in progress towards the 1960 when doctors fresh from medical school fanned UN Millennium Development Goals out to remote regions, providing medical care to many rural people for the first time this strategy evolved into Cuba has the lowest HIV rate in the Americas a single public health system featuring services free to The leading causes of death are the same for the USA and patients, with particular focus on the most vulnerable Cuba (heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory populations. diseases, stroke, and unintentional injury) Early and dramatic improvements eliminated many Doctor-to-patient ratio in Cuba is among the world s highest; vaccine-preventable diseases altogether, and meant that 59% of physicians are women diarrheal and other infectious diseases, malnutrition, A woman born in Maryland has the same life expectancy as a and parasites were no longer major health problems. woman born in Matanzas province in central Cuba Those gains prompted Cuba s health system to develop further: today, a family doctor-nurse program and Cuba has the lowest infant mortality rate in the hemisphere: a nearly 500 clinics locate primary care in communities child born in the eastern mountains of Cuba has a better nationwide. This is coupled with a
    [Show full text]
  • Place, Race, and the Politics of Identity in the Geography of Garinagu Baündada Doris Garcia Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2014 Place, Race, and the Politics of Identity in the Geography of Garinagu Baündada Doris Garcia Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Garcia, Doris, "Place, Race, and the Politics of Identity in the Geography of Garinagu Baündada" (2014). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3744. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3744 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. PLACE, RACE, AND THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY IN THE GEOGRAPHY OF GARINAGU BAÜNDADA A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography & Anthropology by Doris Garcia B.A., City College of New York, 2002 M.S., Central Connecticut State University, 2006 December 2014 Belize Caribbean Sea Islas de la Bahía Colón Atlántida Guatemala Cortés Yoro Gracias a Dios Santa Bárbara Copán Olancho Comayagua Lempira Ocotepeque Francisco Morazán Intibucá La Paz El Paraíso El Salvador Valle Nicaragua Choluteca P a c i f i c O c e a n Miles 0 50 100 Map of Honduras in Central America Prepared by: Paul Karolczyk and Doris Garcia ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I extend my most profound gratitude to several people who contributed to the completion of this dissertation and my evolution as a scholar.
    [Show full text]
  • MEDICC Review Author Guidelines March 2018
    MEDICC Review — Author Guidelines (available online) Version: January 2018 MEDICC Review Author Guidelines March 2018 Contents General Instructions ................................................................................ 2 Checklist for Manuscript Submission ................................................... 3 Definitions of Author & Contributor ................................................... 5 Policy on Conflict of Interest ................................................................. 6 Author Instructions: Original Research Article ................................... 7 Author Instructions: Review Article ..................................................... 9 Author Instructions: Lessons from the Field .................................... 10 Author Instructions: Lessons in International Cooperation ........... 11 Author Instructions: Perspective ......................................................... 12 Author Instructions: Viewpoint ........................................................... 12 Author Instructions: Letters to the Editor ......................................... 12 Page 1 of 12 MEDICC Review — Author Guidelines (available online) Version: January 2018 Author Guidelines MEDICC Review (MR) is an open-access quarterly journal, founded in 1999 and peer-reviewed since 2007. MR is indexed in PubMed; SciELO; Latindex; Thomson-Reuters; SCOPUS and Embase (Elsevier); CABI Global Health; Tropical Diseases Bulletin; Latindex and Redalyc. Available in EBSCO Host, ISI Web of Knowledge, and HINARI. MR publishes experiences
    [Show full text]
  • Download Full Book (PDF)
    Cuba The Atlantic Philanthropies 10 Rockefeller Plaza, 16th floor New York, NY 10020 United States atlanticphilanthropies.org The Atlantic Philanthropies Cuba 3 Dr. Rodriguez providesThe primary care to Shexley BenentAtlantic at walk-in clinic Number Philanthropies 14, Lo Santa Fe, Isle of Youth. Foreword 7 Preface 13 ‘It Was Something Like an Unrealized Dream’ 17 Summary 21 Why African-American Doctors Are Choosing to Study Medicine in Cuba 39 Cuba 45 Investments in Health Care 59 An Untold Story: Atlantic’s Support for Reconciliation Between the U.S. and Cuba 97 Grantee Profiles 119 William Soler Pediatric Hospital 121 INFOMED and the National Medical Sciences Information Center 130 Latin American Medical School — ELAM 136 Community Partnerships for Health Equity 142 Cuban Neurosciences Center 148 Center for Democracy in the Americas 151 Lessons 155 Acknowledgements 172 All references to currency are in U.S. dollars. The Atlantic Philanthropies Cuba BY JULIE FEINSILVER Chuck Feeney, founding chairman of The Atlantic Philanthropies, and Christopher G. Oechsli, president and CEO of Atlantic and first country director for Viet Nam, Australia and Cuba. DEDICATION Charles Francis Feeney, whose generosity and vision have improved the lives of millions in Cuba and across the globe The Atlantic Philanthropies comprise The Atlantic Trust and the Atlantic Foundation, the Mangrove Foundation (each based in Bermuda), and the Atlantic Advocacy Fund (AAF), a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization based in the United States, and other entities. One of these is the Atlantic Charitable Trust (ACT) of the United Kingdom, which is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales and is not subject to the same U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • CPHE Newsletter, May, 2019 COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS for HEALTH EQUITY US-Cuba Policy Changes Have Been in the News Lately
    CPHE Newsletter, May, 2019 COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS FOR HEALTH EQUITY US-Cuba policy changes have been in the news lately. nities have been able to creatively adapt Cuba’s working Yet we don’t hear about how the harsh restrictions on models and approaches to improve health and health equi- family remittances have created even more economic ty at home. This is the kind of news that is worth sharing hardships for the Cuban people. And we rarely, if ever, – especially with our existing health care system in con- read about Cuba’s educated and healthy population, who stant crisis. We are grateful to our CPHE participants for can do so much with so little – or of Cuban pride in their their staying power and their successful efforts to make history and culture. CPHE participants have seen differ- their voices heard at local, state and national levels. We ent faces of Cuba, and strongly identify with the spirit and are also grateful for the long-term support of our funders assets of Cuban neighborhoods – poor in material re- who recognize how CPHE is contributing to the national sources, but rich in spirit, like their own US neighbor- movement for health equity and social justice. Onward! hoods. We at MEDICC admire the ways CPHE commu- - the CPHE team CPHE’s First Cuba Youth Exchange “In the after-school program we observed at a middle school in Havana, all the kids went to their clubs and were excited! None of them left!” “I liken it to an All-Star that shoots 100 jump shots after prac- tice… these children were sharp… and wanted to be sharper! I thought it was SUPER dope that the STD club at the school partnered with the staff of Carrito por la Vida (the HIV/AIDs prevention center we had visited earlier) on some community outreach programs! I believe these kids’ enthusiasm was fueled by the confidence of knowing their place in the uni- Students in a middle school in Havana verse and having connection to their roots.
    [Show full text]
  • Your Primary Care Doctor May Have an MD from Cuba: Experiences from the Latin American Medical School
    Roundtable Your Primary Care Doctor May Have an MD from Cuba: Experiences from the Latin American Medical School Conner Gorry MA On the 40th anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration that Data Snapshot: US Students and Graduates of ELAM af rmed health for all a right and primary health care the route Indicator Value to guar antee that right, WHO and PAHO have issued a call Students currently enrolled 72 to action to convert universal health into reality for the nearly Graduates 172 four billion people worldwide lacking full coverage of essential Graduates in residency or post residency 84 health services. There is some urgency to this movement: WHO Graduates working in designated Health 73% estimates the health workforce shortage of nearly 8 million could Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) and/or reach almost 13 million by 2035. And the USA is not exempt: Medically Underserved Area (MUA)* medical associations and special commissions set up to Specialty Graduates n (%) investigate the shortage of primary care physicians, especially Family medicine 49 (58) “under-represented minority” doctors, have issued report after report on this growing health care emergency. The biggest Internal medicine 21 (25) question looming is: where will the health care providers come Surgery 5 (6) from, especially well-trained primary care doctors who want to Pediatrics 4 (5) work for those who need them most? Emergency medicine 2 (2) Neurology 1 (1) Part of the answer may be found in Cuba and its Latin American Psychiatry 1 (1) School of Medicine (ELAM), which has graduated some 28,500 Triple board 1 (1) MDs from 103 countries since its rst class of 2005 —including *Those not working in an HPSA or MUA are working in the public sector with nearly 200 from the USA.
    [Show full text]