Starchild, I trusted the figures because the are traced to the Pan American Health Organization. You are certainly justified in suspecting any government figures, however. I am sure every administration tries to push them in their favor.
In general, Ithough, believe the thrust of the article is true; Cuba has devoted a lot of resources to medical aid for Haiti, and with some success. The title , calling it the "world's secret" is certainly wrong. Cuba's presence in Haiti was well covered on the Spanish language media available by cable in the US. I think the "secret" is only kept from most US voters. In terms of international politics we can see two trends. The government of Cuba has found a way they can compete besides militarism. The US government does not want this to happen. The US government continues to embargo Cuba at the behest of right-wing refugees from the island. As usual, the US government is selling war and oppression; cooperation, even for humanitarian emergencies, is not on the agenda of the US government. for freedom, Harland Harrison LP of San Mateo County CA ________________________________ De : Starchild <[email protected]> À : [email protected] Cc : [email protected]; groupcalibs <[email protected]>; [email protected] Envoyé le : Dim 4 avril 2010, 20 h 24 min 18 s Objet : [CALibs] Re: [lpsf-discuss] One of the World's Best Kept Secrets Cuban Medical Aid to Haiti Harland, Interesting, but frankly I trust neither the numbers nor the implication. I want to know how they derived these public health numbers in Haiti -- were they compiled by a Haitian government (especially the left-wing Aristide government) seeking to make themselves and/or the Castro regime look good? If improvements of that magnitude actually occurred, I rather doubt that Cuban doctors were responsible. I also rather doubt that Cuba provides more foreign aid per capita than the United States or most other countries, although I could be wrong. If they do it would be rather ironic, given the poverty in Cuba itself. What is your take on the article? Love & Liberty, ((( starchild ))) On Apr 2, 2010, at 8:06 PM, Harland Harrison wrote: > Entire article on Counterpunch at > http://www.counterpunch.org/kirk04012010.html > > CounterPunch - April 1, 2010 > > One of the World's Best Kept Secrets > > Cuban Medical Aid to Haiti > > By EMILY J. KIRK and JOHN M. KIRK > > Media coverage of Cuban medical cooperation following the disastrous > recent earthquake in Haiti was sparse indeed. International news > reports usually described the Dominican Republic as being the first > to provide assistance, while Fox News sang the praises of U.S. > relief efforts in a report entitled "U.S. Spearheads Global Response > to Haiti Earthquake"-a common theme of its extensive coverage. CNN > also broadcast hundreds of reports, and in fact one focused on a > Cuban doctor wearing a T-shirt with a large image of Che Guevara-- > and yet described him as a "Spanish doctor". > > In reality, however, Cuba's medical role had been extremely > important-and had been present since 1998. > > ... > > By 2007, significant change had already been achieved throughout > the country. It is worth noting that Cuban medical personnel were > estimated to be caring for 75% of the population.[3] Studies by the > Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) indicated clear improvements > in the health profile since this extensive Cuban medical cooperation > began. > > Improvements in Public Health in Haiti, 1999-2007[4] > > Health Indicator 1999 2007 > > Infant Mortality, per 1,000 live births 80 33 > Child Mortality Under 5 per 1,000 135 59.4 > Maternal Mortality per 100,000 live births 523 285 > Life Expectancy (years) 54 61 > > Cuban medical personnel had clearly made a major difference to the > national health profile since 1998, largely because of their > proactive role in preventive medicine-as can be seen below. > > Selected Statistics on Cuban Medical Cooperation > Dec. 1998-May 2007[5] > > Visits to the doctor 10,682,124 > Doctor visits to patients 4,150,631 > Attended births 86,633 > Major and minor surgeries 160,283 > Vaccinations 899,829 > Lives saved (emergency) 210,852 > > By 2010, at no cost to medical students, Cuba had trained some 550 > Haitian doctors, and is at present training a further 567... > > ... > > > > http://www.counterpunch.org/kirk04012010.html > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
