Revolutionary Health

Drawing from findings in `state capacity' and `social capital' literatures, this article adopts a new framework for exploring the puzzle of Cuba's health outcomes, which are widely recognised as being extremely positive given the country's developing status, and the external crises it has faced in recent decades. The findings presented in this article emerge from five years of research, including nine months of fieldwork in Havana. It is argued that Cuba's health outcomes are partly attributable to an unusually high level of popular participation and cooperation in the implementation of health policy. This has been achieved with the help of a longstanding government with clear health goals and enough political influence to compel the rest of the community to prioritise them. On the other hand, the degree of public negotiation or participation in health policy decision-making was found to be minimal, and this carries consequences that undermine certain aspects of health care quality in Cuba and threaten the sustainability of the public health system

Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Health care · Negotiation · Political capital · Political science · Politics · Public health · Social capital · Sociology · Sustainability · Cuban History and Society · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Public Administration · Health Policy