Studying Medicine in Cuba: The Experience of two US Students
In a posting dated March 23, 2008, we wrote about the Cuban government’s offer of medical scholarships to US students: How US students can get a free medical education in Cuba. We have just published an article by two American students studying in Cuba: Razel Remen and Lillian Holloway. They discuss their experiences at the Latin American Medical School (known as ELAM for its Spanish initials). The article is found in the July, 2008 edition of Social Medicine. It begins:
“Introduction
The health of the world’s population is divided into two groups, those who have access to health care services and those who do not. The effects of this divide can be seen on the international level where life expectancy in Switzerland averages 80 years as opposed to 38 years in Zambia. Infant mortality rates are often used as a general indicator of health and socioeconomic conditions since rates are affected by factors such as access to perinatal health care. A direct relationship has been shown between higher income and education level and lower rates of infant mortality. This may explain in part an infant mortality rate of 4.5 per 1,000 live births in Connecticut in comparison with 12.2 in the Washington, DC area.
A major influence in access to services is the availability of trained health care workers. The World Health Organization estimates that the world will need at least 4,250,000 additional health workers to address these health disparities. In the face of this work force crisis we are left wondering how to fill in the gaps left by the mass exodus of health workers from developing nations to industrialized ones.
Cuba has tried to address these problems by sending thousands of healthcare professionals to work in some of the most impoverished and medically underserved regions in the world. Over the years, their attempts have evolved to include training professionals from underserved areas to provide enduring sources of health care for their populations. Perhaps the most valiant of efforts was the creation of the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba (called ELAM, Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina), which currently is training over 10,000 students from at least 27 countries, including the United States. Despite ELAM’s impressive numbers, its founders recognized that solutions to what has become a global health care crisis depend not only on the number of physicians produced but also on how they are trained as providers of care. To that end training is oriented toward primary care, public health and hands-on clinical experience. Perhaps no one can speak better about the training at ELAM than the actual students sitting in its classrooms. The following is a student perspective on ELAM and its educational program highlights, as viewed by two of its North American students.”
To read the rest of the article, please click here.
-posted by Matt Anderson
do ghanaian students have to take the mcat exam before being accepted into the medical schools in cuba?
Taban, I am sorry but we do not have information on schools in Lebanon. I will send your query to someone who may be able to help you. Sincerely, Matt Anderson
hi im taban from iraq _kurdstan i have 93 degree so i want study midicn in best univesaty in lebnon pleas help me
Anika, Please contact Pastors for Peace. I do not know if there is a scholarship for pharmacy school. Here is the website. http://www.ifconews.org/MedicalSchool. Best, Matt Anderson
My name is Anika Fowler i am 18 years old i would like to study Pharmacy in a Cuba university. how do i go about it, awaiting your reply
Please contact the Cuban Embassy in Ghana. Here is a link: http://embassy-finder.com/cuba_in_accra_ghana. Best regards, Matt Anderson
I want to know the steps i can take if i want to study medicine in a Cuban university. My name is Evelyn and i’m from Ghana
does anyone know about any medical research into Medicinal Cannabis and it’s ability to reduce cancerous tumours?
Is anywhere in Latin America looking at the properties of the Cannabis plant in relation to it’s proven ability to reduce Cancer tumours?
“The team – based at Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry in London – have followed up on their previous findings that the main active ingredient in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has the potential to be used effectively against some forms of cancer. THC has previously been shown to attack cancer cells by interfering with important growth-processing pathways, however its mechanism of doing so has remained a mystery. Now, Dr Liu and his colleagues, using microarray technology – allowing them to simultaneously detect changes in more than 18,000 genes in cells treated with THC – have begun to uncover the existence of processes through which THC can kill cancer cells and potentially promote survival.”
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The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University who tested the chemical in both lab and mouse studies.
Delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), inhibits EGF-induced growth and migration in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expressing non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Lung cancers that over-express EGFR are usually highly aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy.
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The researchers tested the chemicals on different human prostate cancer cell lines grown in the lab, and found that they could slow down their growth and trigger cell death – Professor Ines Diaz-Laviada and her team at the University of Alcala in Madrid
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“We know that there are as many or more carcinogens and co-carcinogens in marijuana smoke as in cigarettes,” researcher Donald Tashkin, MD, of UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine tells WebMD. “But we did not find any evidence for an increase in cancer risk for even heavy marijuana smoking.” Carcinogens are substances that cause cancer.
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Cellular studies and even some studies in animal models suggest that THC has antitumor properties, either by encouraging the death of genetically damaged cells that can become cancerous or by restricting the development of the blood supply that feeds tumors, Tashkin tells WebMD.
In a review of the research published last fall, University of Colorado molecular biologist Robert Melamede, PhD, concluded that the THC in cannabis seems to lessen the tumor-promoting properties of marijuana smoke.
http://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/news/20060523/pot-smoking-not-linked-to-lung-cancer?page=2
I am hamud from TANZANIA and i would love to study MBBS in cuba i heard alot about cuba,. i want to know how i could apply and which school is the best… awaiting your reply.
Please contact Pastors For Peace at http://www.ifconews.org/. Best, Matt Anderson
I would like to study medicine in cuba and i would like to know which countries recognize the degree and if it a good choice to study in Cuba?
i leave in the us and i would love to study medicine in cuba every one says they have good medicine school.
With all my concerned i will liked to study in your institution.
With humbly i hope you will uderstand.