Lu

Saving Cuba’s ch

ildren

By Aida Cardenas

Ae semicolonial situation of Cuba before
January 1959 exacted a high price in hu-
man lives, especially among children.

From the start, the Revolutionary Gov-
ernment was fully aware that the principal
public health enemies were economic
underdevelopment, feudal exploitation, the
latifundium, the single-crop system and
their sequels: the “dead season,’’ misery
and hunger.

During the years immediately before
the Revolution, Cuba had some 5,000 deaths
a year from acute diarrheic diseases; 90%
were children under one year old. Respon-
sible for these deaths were scant medical
attention, an insufficient number of pediat-
ric hospital beds, malnutrition and intestin-

al parasitism. Cuba’s rural areas had de-:

plorable sanitary conditions.

In 1962.thePublicHealth Ministry (PHM)
initiated a campaign against gastroenter-
itis, a disease which caused a great number
of deaths. This was the first step toward
reducing child mortality figures. Gradual-

ly, the PHM began a series of other pro-.

grams aimed at protecting the health of
the people and minimizing child deaths:
training of more doctors and nurses, intro-
ducing pediatric services in rural areas, in-
creasing the number of pediatric hospital
beds, conducting health education and na-
tionwide vaccination programs, which have
completely eradicated polio and malaria
and have created a high immunity level to
diseases like TB, diphtheria, tetanus,
measles and whooping cough.

At the same time, the PHM worked to
increase the number of deliveries in mater-
nity hospitals and created the first Moth-
ers’ Homes in the rural areas. Here preg-
nant women from remote rural regions
can spend the last weeks of their pregnancy
in comfort and can give birth in optimum
medical conditions.

Suffice it to say that the PHM budget,

which was approximately 25 million pesos:

in 1959. soared to 210 million in 1968, an
almost nine-fold increase. At the end of
1969, Cua’s pediatricians resolved to re-
duce the child mortality rate by 50% in the
decade 1970-80. The program contemplated
war against the most frequent-causes of
baby deaths: acute diarrhea, influenza,
pneumonia and congenital defects. At the
same time the PHM gave priority to preg-
nant women and small children, instituting
8.1 medical checkups per pregnancy and 4.8
pediatric checkups per healthy child during
the first year of life. Cuba’s child mortality
rate fell from 39 per 1,000 live births in
1968 to 28.1 in 1972.

Other important factors in obtaining
this extraordinary drop in child deaths
have been: early hospitalization af sick
children, elimination of overcrowding in
hospitals, and the ‘‘mother-companion’’
plan where the mother is allowed to help
care for her own child in the hospital.

Today. 93.3% of all births in Cuba take
place in medical institutions, all children
receive BCG vaccinations at birth and ‘‘big
risk” children (all newborns. premature
and malnourished babies) receive system-
atic home visits from pediatricians and
nurses.

In 1968, the total number of deaths from
gastroenteritis, measles and whooping
cough accounted for 13.3% of deaths in
children under. five years of age. while the
estimate for 1967 for the rest of Latin
America was 23°%.

Contributing to these achievements has
been the application of mass education and
Participation in public health — with the
assistance of the Committees for the De-

Prensa Leting

(Above) Medical services in Cuba are available in even the most remot
the health of the child, as indicated by the modern facilities (below) thet

i tion
regions, and the Cuban government has given priority atten y
employ all the benefits of science for the welfare of the childre" N.

Prensa Latin

fense of the Revolution to carry out vaccin-
ation and health programs all over the
country.

_ However, it is a fact that nutritional de-
ficiencies are prevalent in the countries
of Latin America and are intimately linked
to a country’s development level and child
mortality rate. Children who survive the
first five years are usually small in stature
and suseptible to a wide number of infec-

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1974—Page 10

tions and parasitic infections. In conclusion,
the areas of malnutrition are zones of high
child mortality rates, with children of poor
physical development, retarded psycho-
motor: development and possibly perman-
ent brain damage.

In view of. these facts, Cuba has begun a
nationwide research project — only Eng-
land also has such a program — on the
growth and development of the population.

-agividus
The projet is studying 56,000 ind rR
from 0 to 19 years of age with 15 2” inl
metric measurements made of e4 pe
vidual. At present most of the ree ve
been done and the project is noW © gif
the tabulation stage. Cuba has alS0 gd
nationwide perinatal research i ao
which all adds up to the-prospect a
stantly declining child mortality 19" 4g
’ —Prens?

WORLD MAGAZINE 9