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 <sfdrea...@earthlink.net>
À : lpsf-disc...@yahoogroups.com
Cc : Libertarian@yahoogroups.com; groupcalibs <cal...@yahoogroups.com>;
lpradic...@yahoogroups.com
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]
