The Cuban Health Care

Today, to develop effectively according to the global economic tendencies and local ideological principles, the health care system of Cuba should balance between focusing on the traditional socialist patterns associated with the gift-giving principles and modern economic and market trends typical for the global community’s progress.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Cuban Health Care specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This controversial situation of balancing between two extremes can be discussed as the direct result of the Soviet Union’s collapse which influenced the health care system of Cuba negatively in relation to provoking the economic crisis and positively in relation to the system’s adaptation to the global market relations and development of the biotech industry. The health care system of Cuba can be described from two different points because of the significant impact of the Soviet Union’s fall on the country’s economy. Thus, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba â€Å"was plunged into a devastating economic crisis known as the Special Period. As the country plummeted from the ranks of the socialist ‘second world’ to join the ‘third world’, the tightening of the U.S. embargo further exacerbated the crisis† (Andaya 2009: 358). Although the economic crisis led to the people’s poverty and decline of the health care industry during the first years after the Soviet Union’s fall, the situation also had the positive impact because to avoid the negative effects of the U.S. embargo, Cuba focused on the development of the progressive biotech industry. The collapse of the Soviet Union changed the economic basics of the health care system’s progress in Cuba, and the government concentrated on the provision of the adequate health care during the most problematic period; thus, the system of family d octors was developed (Burke presentation, October 17, 2013). However, the ideological norms were preserved because the system of family doctors also reflected the socialist principles, and the tradition of gift-giving was followed within the society as the reaction to the problematic financial situations within the society. Today, â€Å"with the shifts in the Cuban economy, market forces stand in a profound tension with the ideology of the gift† (Andaya 2009: 371).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More From this perspective, one of the negative effects of the Soviet Union’s collapse on the health care system of Cuba is the necessity to reform the traditional socialist system with references to the requirements of the modern market-based systems (Burke presentation, October 17, 2013). Furthermore, the negative effects of the situation are also associated with the gene ral economic crisis experienced in Cuba. The absence of the adequate funding within the health care industry stimulates the preservation of the gift-giving traditions with the society as the ways to support the economic status of family doctors (Andaya 2009: 358). This fact supports the idea that Cuba suffers from the economic decline in relation to all the spheres. Thus, the main negative impacts of the Soviet Union’s collapse on the health care industry of Cuba are the economic shortages associated with the further economic crisis and the necessity to adapt to the U.S. embargo and to the new principles of the market-based systems developed in the world. However, the Cuban health care system is characterized by the revolutionary approach to creating the system of family doctors, and the focus on this approach can be discussed as the positive effect of the Soviet Union’s collapse as well as the country’s focus on the biotech industry as the way to enter the glob al market and overcome the issues related to the disadvantageous U.S. embargo. Works Cited Andaya, Elise. â€Å"The Gift of Health: Socialist Medical Practice and Shifting Material and Moral Economies in Post-Soviet Cuba†. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 23.4 (2009): 357-374. Print. Burke, Nancy. â€Å"Travels in Exceptionalism? Cuban Health(care) on the Island and Around the World†. UC Irvine School of Social Sciences. Irvine, California. October 17 2013. Lecture. This essay on The Cuban Health Care was written and submitted by user Sarah Watson to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here. The Cuban Health Care The contemporary health care system of Cuba develops in association with two main but opposite tendencies.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Cuban Health Care specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More On the one hand, the Cuban health care system remains to be one of the most patient-oriented systems in the world because of focusing on family doctors and preventive medicine, while accentuating the moral aspect in relation to the health care (Andaya 2009: 358). On the other hand, the Cuban government has to overcome the problems associated with the economic development of the country and sphere of health care because of the lack of financial resources to support it (Cuba’s Emphasis, December 21, 2010). The current development of the country’s health care system depends on the collapse of the Soviet Union significantly because the socialist country’s fall influenced the economic system of Cuba. Thus, in spite of the fact that the Cuban health care system develops independently during more than twenty years, the collapse of the Soviet Union affected it negatively, causing the crisis in funding the sphere and influencing the Cuban government’s approach to finding new investments and medicine resources, and also positively, reforming the system and affecting indirectly the development of the biotech industry. The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in revealing many challenges for the development of the Cuban health care system. Thus, the system had to develop within new contexts of the local and global economies, suffering from the lack of funding and available material resources. The collapse led to the significant economic crisis in Cuba; the sphere of the health care was not funded appropriately without the Soviet Union’s subsidies and investments; and the following U.S. embargo caused the further economic decline in relation to the health care system.Advertisin g Looking for essay on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As a result, today the Cuban patients cannot rely on the effective treatment in spite of the provided opportunities for it because of the lack of medicines because of the U.S. embargo, and physicians cannot rely on the adequate material rewards (Cuba’s Emphasis, December 21, 2010). Thus, the system of the gift exchange is still relevant in relation to the Cuban society because of availability of gifts as resources to pay for the physicians’ efforts in the situation when the other resources are not available for the impoverished Cuban population (Andaya 2009: 358). From this point, the collapse of the Soviet Union broke the stable economic system of the socialist country because of ceasing subsidies and provoking the U.S. embargo. The Cuban government faced such problems as the shortages in funding and resources. However, Cuba, as the sociali st country continued to follow the main principles of the patient-oriented health care. The significant economic crisis caused some unintended positive changes in the health care system of Cuba. The principles of providing the free and universal care were preserved, and the main focus was kept on the effective preventive medicine depending on the system of family doctors. As a result, the high rates in relation to birth and life expectancy were preserved. The impossibility to provide the adequate material rewards for doctors influenced the emphasis on the moral aspects of the preventive medicine and the system of family doctors. Moreover, the lack of medicines was overcome not only with references to the development of preventive medicine as the approach to preserving the well-being of the nation but also with the help of biotech industry’s development (Cuba’s Emphasis, December 21, 2010).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Cuban Health Care spe cifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Today, the Cuban health care system is oriented to coping with the experienced challenges with references to the country’s resources, as it is observed in relation to developing the biotech industry. Works Cited Andaya, Elise. â€Å"The Gift of Health: Socialist Medical Practice and Shifting Material and Moral Economies in Post-Soviet Cuba†. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 23.4 (2009): 357-374. Print. Cuba’s Emphasis on Preventive Medicine. 21 Dec. 2010. Web. This essay on The Cuban Health Care was written and submitted by user Amber F. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.