Cuba has better results than the U.S. regarding pandemic control, comparative study assures

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 28 (ACN) A comparative study on the management of responses to COVID-19 in Cuba and the United States concluded that thanks to its more coordinated and comprehensive strategy, Cuba has obtained significantly better results compared to the U.S.
The study, published by the American Journal of Public Health and quoted by the Cuban foreign ministry, details that Cuba's better results are mainly due to the differences in the structure and organization of its health systems.

The research assures that the Cuban Ministry of Public Health ( MINSAP by its Spanish acronym) leads at the national level and it is the attention at the community level that distinguishes the Cuban system.

In this regard, they highlight the fact that there are 11,128 doctor's offices (clinics) in Cuba's neighborhoods, each of which is staffed by a duo of family doctors and nurses who often live in the same community and are very familiar with the health status of the neighborhood and its residents.
On the spread of disease-related messages, the text emphasizes that in Cuba, prior to COVID-19, state TV channels broadcast health education messages instead of commercials.

In addition, it underlined how in the Caribbean island several spaces were created to provide truthful information on the disease; while messages related to COVID-19 in the U.S. were characterized by conflict.

The analysis particularly underlined the development of its own vaccines, and emphasized the projection to vaccinate the entire population by the end of 2021. However, it noted that in the United States several private companies have been involved in the vaccine development process.

The research was conducted by then student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Mary Anne Powell; Paul C. Erwin, associate editor of AJPH and who works at that University's school of public health; and Pedro Mas Bermejo, from the Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine, in Cuba.