Add a comment July 21st, 2008 by bronxdoc
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
Add a comment July 17th, 2008 by bronxdoc
We have just published Volume 3, Number 2 of Social Medicine. The full table of contents in available on line. Here is some information about the articles:
Earlier this year we invited Asa Cristina Laurell, a prominent Mexican public health activist to prepare a special issue on progressive health reforms in Latin America. Dr. Laurell was the head of the Mexico City Health Department from 2000-2006 and - had the Mexican elections not been stolen by the right - she would currently be Mexico’s Minister of Health. She contributed a paper describing the Health Department’s experience with providing free medicines and medical care to people who did not qualify for coverage under Mexico’s employment-based Social Security System. Other papers examine Brazil’s Unified Health System, the SUS, which is one of the world’s largest public health systems; the Venezuelan attempts to provide free health to the all citizens with assistance from the Cubans; Uruguay’s moves to a public-private system that will guarantee the right to health; and finally Bogota’s experience with providing poor communities with access to health care through the Health at Home program.
American readers may be particularly interested in the article by Razel Remen and Lillian Holloway, two US students studying medicine at the ELAM school in Havana Cuba.
We publish two articles of original research. A Hong Kong team reports on public attitudes during the SARS epidemic in 2003, while Dr. Paula Acevedo presents data on reproductive patterns among Latin American immigrants in Spain.
Sadly, we publish the last article written by Edmundo Granda, one of the founders of ALAMES, the Latin American Social Medicine Association. He passed away in April of this year. He approved the final galleys of the Spanish version of his paper via blackberry from the hospital on the week he died. His paper considers the historical trajectory of ALAMES and where Latin American Social Medicine may be heading.
Finally, Dr. Lanny Smith interviews Chilean activist Victor Toro, a political refugee from Pinochet’s Chile, who is now facing deportation from the US, his home of nearly 2 decades. Ironically, he has been a immigrant rights activist (and patient of Dr. Smith) in the Bronx, New York, for most of these years. His account of becoming ill in an ICE detention facility mirrors the concerns discussed in our July 10th posting about Dr. Homer Venters.
Posted by Matt Anderson
Add a comment June 27th, 2008 by bronxdoc
Earlier this week we received the following announcement from MEDICC which we are reproducing with their permission. Opportunities to visit Cuba and do research are very limited:
MEDICC is contacting community health professionals to announce an exciting opportunity for research on Cuba’s primary care health system, December 7 - 14, 2008.
MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba) supports US health professionals undertaking field research in Cuba by providing background materials, guidance on research objectives, and opportunities for publication of research findings. Please see our on-line publications athttp://www.medicc.org.
Over the past several decades, community clinics in the US have mobilized to confront issues of growing disparity and lack of access to health care - all in the face of enormous challenges.
Cuba’s health outcomes often resonate with those in the United States working to find innovative approaches to health problems in medically underserved communities. Despite high levels of poverty, health indicators in Cuba are on par with industrialized countries, including the U.S. Particularly noteworthy are Cuba’s emphasis on community-oriented primary care, the integration of clinical medicine and public health, preventive medicine and effective use of limited resources (see attached article).
The research program in Cuba will be tailored to participants’ interests, and will include meeting with Cuban colleagues and community health leaders, as well as field research on Cuba’s functioning models of primary care, including:
- Polyclinics (the centerpiece of the community-based system)
- Family doctor-nurse offices (or consultorios)
- Community mental health clinics
- Maternity Homes (for high risk pregnancies)
- Community organizations such as the sanitary brigades and the Federation of Cuban Women
- Health programs for the elderly (circulo de abuelos)
Full time health professionals conducting research in Cuba are allowed to do so under the US Treasury’s general license for professional research (see attached). Marazul Charters, an agency licensed to provide travel arrangements to Cuba, organizes the program and books travel. Costs usually range from $2600-$2800 for a week, including airfare from Miami or Cancun. MEDICC serves as an academic consultant for the actual research program and in some cases may be able to provide partial fellowships.
If you are interested in participating in this December 7 - 14 opportunity or would like further information, please let us know by July 2 by writing to admin1@mediccatlatna.org. We will then contact you to discuss your research interests. You can also contact Marazul Charters directly at 1-800 223-5334 ext. 16 for further information on traveling to Cuba on the US Treasury’s general license for professional research. Also, please let us know of any colleagues affiliated with community clinics whom you think might be interested in this opportunity and we will contact them. We look forward to hearing from you.
posted by: Matt Anderson
1 Comment March 23rd, 2008 by Matt
The Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Havana has full scholarships for US students who want to study medicine. This is a six-year medical school meaning that a bachelor’s degree is not required.
Applicants must:
- Be US citizens
- Be between the ages of 18 and 30 at the time of registration
- Be physically and mentally fit
- Come from the humblest and neediest communities in the US
- Be committed to practice medicine in poor and under served US communities after graduation
This program is administered by Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO/Pastors for Peace) and full details can be found on their website.
For a description of the program written by two US students, see our posting: Studying Medicine in Cuba: The experience of two US students
- posted by Matt Anderson
[This posting was updated on July 21, 2008]
