This study examines Cuba's medical system from the inside out and illuminates what the numbers cannot—how the system works and what Cuban life is like. Through qualitative interviews and participant observation, the everyday realities of the Cuban experience are revealed and through them, the values and ideologies of the revolution. This book shows how universal access to medical services can make the difference in the lives of poor people. Cuba does more than provide free services however; it has redefined what medicine is and what doctors and nurses can be.
This work deepens the scholarship on Cuban medicine. It is the first to focus solely on the community based primary care system—Comprehensive Family Medicine and its activist health care professionals—the family doctors and nurses. Caring for Them from Birth to Death is based on interviews and observations conducted in the field over three years in Cuba. The book challenges assumptions about the health of poor populations and demonstrates the global importance of the Cuban model.