I will admit to admiring the people of Cuba and having respect for what their health care system has done for them against great odds and in the face of a vicious US embargo. I've seen it with my own eyes, and although things have fallen on hard times because of the embargo, it performs better than anyone would have a right to expect. It is true Cuba's government is not a model of tolerance and can be very repressive, a tendency aided and abetted by US policy. But the spirit of the Cuban Revolution still has my admiration. They aren't worse, and in fact are better than many staunch US allies, like the Saudis. But that's a pretty low bar. So it pains me deeply to say their behavior during a recent outbreak of dengue fever is reprehensible. They sound like China, which believe me, I don't mean as a compliment.
In September and October Cuba experienced its worst dengue outbreak in 25 years. Dengue is a seriously debilitating mosquito-borne disease that in some forms can kill. Thousands were said to have been infected and more than 100 died. Not that you'd have known it from the Cuban authorities.
[A Cuban physician] complained about the veil initially imposed by Communist Party officials. The ostensible purpose was to avoid panicking the public, but the demand that the epidemic be treated as a confidential security matter was strongest in early September, when preparations were underway for the 14th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, to be held in Havana. That gathering of Third World leaders brought 3,000 foreign visitors from more than 100 countries to the capital Sept. 11-16, including about 50 heads of state and government.
The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity because of the possibility of dismissal from his job or arrest for discussing the matter with a reporter.
"We were forbidden even to refer to it as dengue fever, because the official position is that dengue was eradicated in the 1980s," said the doctor, who has nearly three decades of experience in Havana hospitals. "We were compelled to call it 'fever syndrome.' " (Boston Globe)
Cuban emigre politics in the US is vicious and US officials habitually lie about the Cuban government. One of the problems with this kind of deceit is that when a truthful accusation is made, many people won't believe it. But I believe this. I remember touring Cuban public health facilities many years ago and being told by our government guide that alcoholism had been wiped out after the Revolution. Five minutes later we were treated to the sight of a drunk staggering down the street. The guide just shrugged. I have absolutely no doubt Cuban authorities deliberately covered up the dengue outbreak.
The summit is over and the Cuban Ministry of Public Health now admits there was a major outbreak of dengue. It was quelled by a massive mobilization of 300,000 students, pensioners and health care workers, according to reports. If only the Cuban government's commitment to the truth matched their genuine commitment to public health. Once some might have considered this a regrettable but acceptable price to pay for decent public health and health care.
No longer. The world can no longer afford this kind of behavior.
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The Cuban government similarly denied the existence of an outbreak of dengue in 1997. In fact, Dr. Desi Mendoza, a physician who drew attention to the outbreak, was actually arrested and imprisoned. His efforts helped persuade the Cuban government to acknowledge the epidemic (approx 17,000 cases). I wrote about the events in a 1998 piece for the New Republic.
Geeze! Admire the Cuban health care system? Why? I doubt you could get a f***** aspirin in the Cuban health care system. If it is just an ideological issue where one wishes to promote the glories of socialized medicine at least admire, say, the Canadian or Swedish system where they actually have what is called medicine generally available for most folks. Cuba is nothing more than a little tin-pot tyranny with a nineteenth century economy like a lot of other tin-pot tyrannys in the world.
Cuba is nothing more than a little tin-pot tyranny with a nineteenth century economy like a lot of other tin-pot tyrannys in the world.
I guess little tin-pot tyrannies with nineteenth century economies are better for your health than are freeance- and peeance-loving Democracies such as 'Merka! Cubans, for all the venom you spit at them, have a marginally longer life expectancy than people in the U.S.
Totally off topic, but may I make a request of the band?
Can we get your interpretation/take, Revere, of the Nature article dealing with the two polymorphisms that is currently being discussed in the "Checkmate" thread at Flu Wiki?
carl: Have you actually seen the Cuban health care system? I have. Or are you just repeating a line over and over again.
Nancy: Reading the Nature article now. Plan to parse it as soon as I get a chance.
You know that they lied to you about alcoholism and that they covered up a major outbreak of dengue fever. What logical basis do you have for believing anything from a Cuban source?
Surely the fact that there is an "official position" that "dengue was eradicated in the 1980s" means that there may very well be an "official position" that they have a good medical system or literacy or whatever. My rule of thumb is that you can't believe anything dependent on government reports. I find that this generally serves me well. If a government restricts the flow of information it's usually because it wants to get its own message out. It woudln't need to do that if it were true.
Joe: I believe a lot of things about the value of the Cuban health care system because I saw it and talked with a lot of Cubans more or less selected at random. My impressions have been validated by scores or hundreds of other public health professionals who have had the same experience. You position is an epistemiologically nihilist position that you clearly don't adhere to as if you did you wouldn't be able to function i a modern world. Even the Bush or Howard administrations tell the truth sometimes. You have to use your own knowledge and experience to sort out truth from falsity.
Healthcare is not the only thing in which Cuba has, after the end of Societ support, made interesting innovations and came up with very modern solutions out of necessity.