Follow the Cuban Health Model – Greenstreet | Health

The 2016 flag bearer of the Convention People's Party (CPP) said that Ghana should follow the Cuban health model that requires mandatory annual health checks for all its citizens.

He made these comments to DAILY GUIDE about the National Day of Rebellion in Cuba, celebrated by the Cuban Embbady in Accra on Tuesday, July 23.

This three-day national holiday is celebrated throughout the country. It commemorates an attack that took place on July 26, 1953, when rebel forces led by Fidel Castro hit the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Even if the attack failed, we remember the beginning of the rebellion that finally overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

Mr. Greenstreet said: "… mandatory annual health checks and an integrated approach to health care involving an entire person are too intrusive for some, but they are widely accepted in Cuba … the goal is to d & # 39; to prevent people from getting sick initially … "

It is said that "Cubans live like the poor and die like the rich", which refers to the fact that Cuba is a relatively poor country, while its disease profile corresponds to that of the richer countries because its inhabitants live longer .

In terms of population health, Cuban health services perform better than other low- and middle-income countries and in some cases are much richer than others.

Despite a fraction of US spending on health care (the World Bank reports that Cuba spends $ 431 per capita per year versus $ 8,553 in the United States), Cuba has a lower infant mortality rate than the United States. United and a similar life expectancy.

In the past, the World Health Organization had praised the preventive nature of the Cuban health system and called on other countries to follow the example of Cuba.

Health care in Cuba is free and universal, enshrined in the Cuban constitution as a fundamental human right guaranteed by the state. The basis of their preventive health care model is at the primary care level; family physicians monitor the health of those living around the clinic.

Cuba has a lot of doctors. To serve its 11 million inhabitants, the country has 90 000. It is eight out of every 1000, more than double the rate observed in the United States and the United Kingdom (the United States has 2.5 doctors per 1,000, the United Kingdom 2.7 per 1,000 according to the World Bank).

Many of these doctors are based in neighborhood medical centers and accompanied by a nurse and the support of visiting specialists; they closely monitor the health and well-being of every Cuban.