Equity and the Cuban National Health System's response to Covid-19

Bibliographic Data

ID14967237
AuthorsPedro Mas Bermejo (Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine, Havana, Cuba., corresponding author), Lizet Sánchez Valdés (0000-0002-6522-8810, Molecular Immunology Center, Havana, Cuba.), Lorenzo Somarriba López (Ministry of Public Health, Havana, Cuba.), Nelly Cristina Valdivia Onega (La Pradera International Health Center, Havana, Cuba.), María Josefina Vidal Ledo (National School of Public Health, Havana, Cuba.), Ileana Alfonso Sánchez (National Medical Sciences Information Center, Havana, Cuba.), Ileana R Alfonso Sánchez (0000-0003-2296-5041, Cuban Neuroscience Center), Armando Seuc Jo (National Institute of Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Microbiology, Havana, Cuba.), Yudivian Almeida Cruz (Council of Ministers, Havana, Cuba.), Yudivián Almeida-Cruz (0000-0002-2345-1387, Center of Molecular Immunology (Cuba)), Roberto Morales Ojeda (Council of Ministers, Havana, Cuba.)
Year2021
Volume45
Pages1
Publication date2021-07-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRevista Panamericana de Salud Pública (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1020-4989 • E-ISSN: 1680-5348
PublisherPan American Health Organization (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.26633/rpsp.2021.80
PMID34220992
OpenAlexW3120889078
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited9

Cuba’s National Health System has managed to guarantee an effective and equitable response to COVID-19. Universal and free health coverage, based on primary care, follows the principle of equity and the greatest resources are allocated to areas of the lowest socioeconomic stratum (where higher risk is concentrated), followed by those of medium and high strata, in that order. This allowed for similar mortality rates in the three strata, and Cuban national mortality rate was one of the lowest in the Region of the Americas. Before the first case was identified in Cuba, a Plan for Coronavirus Prevention and Control was elaborated with multisectoral participation, and when the first case was confirmed the Temporary National Working Group to Fight COVID-19 was created as an advisory body of the government. The actions to face the pandemic began with preventive measures in the community, continued in the isolation centers and ended again in the community with actions of surveillance and follow up of recovered patients. Following the principle of territoriality, molecular diagnosis laboratories were created in the provinces that did not have one. Free medical care and treatment; the preparation of a single national intersectoral government plan; the use of particular strategies for research, diagnosis and case tracing; and the implementation of a universal protocol for disease prevention and treatment of confirmed cases made it possible to control the disease with a health equity perspective

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Disease · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Equity (law · Geography · Government (linguistics · Health care · Health equity · Infectious disease (medical specialty · Isolation (microbiology · Pandemic · Pathology · Political science · Population · Socioeconomic status · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · Healthcare Systems and Reforms · Law · Medicine · Public Administration · Public Health and Social Inequalities

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