Cuba's healthcare and education were exemplary for a poor country. They had a good record of preventative healthcare, and they exported more doctors and health professionals to other needy countries than many that were far richer.
Vale.
28-Nov-16 Update - some figures from Wikipedia:
- Life expectancy: Third in the Americas, after Canada and Chile
- Infant mortality: 5.13 per 1,000 live births, down from 32/1000 in 1957. Again, less than the US.
- In 2015, became the first country to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis, acknowledged by the World Health Organisation.
- As of 2014, there were 50,000 Cuban-trained healthcare workers in 66 countries
- Literacy rate: 99.8%, tenth-highest in the world (vs c.86% in the US)
2 comments:
Hi Stephen. I was just thinking this morning about Castro's regime. I came to the conclusion that very few people are either black or white; most are shades of grey. Fidel did a lot of good for Cuba but, as tends to be the way with all dictators, he went too far. My daughter spent her Honeymoon in Cuba and loved the music and food and said the people were very friendly but she was shocked by the widespread abject poverty.
It's Leah's Birthday today so we are being very lazy and bourgeois. I'm just about to order some take-out food - something we rarely do and the Prosecco is in the fridge.
I hope you and the family are all well. It's exactly four years since we met!
Hi Bazza,
Happy birthday to Leah! Four years goes by really quickly. In particular, people are so surprised how the kids have grown each time they see them. The kids are as lovely as ever.
Poverty. Cuba's always had it, but they used to be bled dry by dictators for personal benefit and lavish lifestyles. Not so now. Health and education are fundamental; I've added some figures.
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