What’s the story of the Latin American School of Medicine?
In 1998, when Hurricane Mitch devastated Nicaragua and Honduras, and Hurricane Georges lashed out at Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the Cuban government responded with a unique and generous offer. They immediately sent 2000 medical personnel to help out in the affected countries. But Cuba contributed much more than just short-term emergency relief. They pointed out that “the permanent hurricane of poverty and underdevelopment kills more people every year than these hurricanes just did…” And Cuba presented a comprehensive plan to create long-term health-care solutions for the nations of Central America and the Caribbean which are chronically poor. The idea behind the Cuban health care plan: to save as many lives every year as were lost in the hurricanes. In 1998, the infant mortality rate in Nicaragua — before Hurricane Mitch — was 10 times higher than in Cuba; in Haiti it was nearly 20 times higher. And what was causing these high rates of infant death? Babies in the poorest regio
