Castro's Medical Diplomacy

Calm down, I know he's a murderous dictator and he's held Cuba back and all that but there's one area in which Fidel has delivered - health care. Despite crippling US trade embargoes, Cubans have roughly the same longevity as the average American and an exceptionally low rate of HIV/AIDS.

One reason for this is that Cuba is literally awash in doctors. At the time of the revolution in 1959 there were about 6,000 physicians, half of whom fled. Today the country has 70,000 for a population of just 11-million. And they're pretty decent doctors. The Latin American School of Medical Science in Havana draws students from around the world.

An article in today's Slate says Cuba's medical prowess may be its salvation:

"In fact, Cuba's medical prowess may be its ticket out of poverty. In the 1990s, Cuba was the first country to develop a meningitis B vaccine. In 2005, Cuba provided cancer treatment technology for a new biotech company in China. Then last year Washington agreed to make an exception to the trade embargo to allow a California firm to test a Cuban cancer treatment. Thanks to an increase in biotech exports, Cuba raised its health budget a couple of years ago to $300 million.

"So, if having all these doctors has helped Cuba, why does Castro send so many of them abroad? Part of it is Cuba's commitment to internationalism, another ideal of the revolution. (Political opponents say the government is showcasing one success of an otherwise botched revolution.) "Medical diplomacy" is also a way to win and keep friends, and to trade services for goods that Cuba wouldn't have otherwise. For example, about 15,000 Cuban doctors and dentists currently work in Venezuela, while President Hugo Chavez supplies Cuba with oil. Castro even offered to send a group of 1,600 doctors to the Gulf Coast after Katrina, but he said the United States didn't respond."