Cuba’s Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer says that integrity, accessibility and internationalism are the founding principles of the Cuban health care system.
He made the statement at the opening of a Global Health Research forum being held this week at Havana’s International Conference Center, gathering over 800 delegates from 80 countries. Minister Balaguer said that the distinctive feature of the Cuban health system, including research institutions, is that the government regards primary health care as a top priority.
He gave an overview of public health in Cuba over the past 50 years, which proudly shows a reduced infant mortality rate of 4.7 per one thousand live births in 2008 and a life expectancy of almost 80 years, indicators similar to those of developed countries.
The Cuban Health Minister recalled that over the past ten years, Cuban health professionals have saved over two million lives all over the world.
Another speaker at the opening, the president of the Foundation Council of the Global Health Research Forum Gill Samuels said that despite the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba , the island has been able to develop a coherent policy aimed at boosting health research.
Fernandez recalled how the Revolution prioritized science in favor of the well being of its people and the promotion of research.
Dr. Gill Samuels, emphasized that Cuba must be taken as an example in the field and praised the island’s political will in favor of human development.
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