I recently read "Third world Health Promotion" by Theo Macdonald which has an excellent discussion of the blockade. In order for other nations to trade health products with Cuba without incurring the U.S' wrath
"Each license application...must name a specific potential recipient. In the case of a pharmaceutical, the patient must be named, his/her medical condition detailed, the doctor in charge must be named, as must the health facility. The application for is 38 pages long...Even worse, each license takes six months to produce so that if a particular [patient]....has died without treatment while awaiting the outcome, the application is invalid even though the same pharmaceutical may be needed by that time by another patient" (p.234) But the trade sanctions are in Cuba's best interest of course! > I don't know anything about Cuban availability of antibiotics, but > it's possible that the US embargo has prevented some of them from > coming in. (What's your source, David?) > > There may have also a been a decision to be much more conservative[*] > in the use of antibiotics. Unlike in the US, they may have held back > on the abuse of antibiotics that produces the superbacteria. > Specifically, they may not dose their chickens and cattle with them > while allowing individuals to abuse them. (I can't believe the number > of cases I've heard of doctors prescribing antibiotics for the flu, a > viral ailment, because market forces push them to keep their patients > happy.) > > The problem is that Cuba is a small country, so that even if they are > and were responsible in bacteria use, the superbacteria arising in the > US or other places with irresponsible antibiotic policies could come > in and infect the Cubans. Cuba's great health indicators could decline > in the future because of the sins of the capitalist gringos. > > [*] remember when one meaning of "conservative" was "responsible"? > Nowadays, it seems to mean libertine Bushism. > > On 5/17/06, Walt Byars <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Perhaps they are, given their great health indicators! >> >> > Maybe you can find a story about how the lack of antibiotics in Cuba >> is >> > ensuring that Cubans are more resistant to superbacterias. >> > >> > David Shemano > > > > -- > Jim Devine / "the world still seems stuck in greed-lock, ruled by > fossilized fools fueled by fossil fuels." -- Swami Beyondananda >
