When will we all have health care? When will we train doctors for service? When will thousands of health professionals volunteer to serve worldwide in poor areas? Right now, says Cuba.
The film ¡Salud! takes you into the widely celebrated Cuban health care system. Although the United States leads the world in biomedical research and high-tech medicine, Cuba scores comparably on many health care indicators at a fraction of the cost. How can such a poor country achieve infant mortality, immunization, and life expectancy rates at comparable levels to the U.S. and what lessons can we draw from that experience? Cuba has more doctors per capita than any other country, and has more serving in the Third World than the World Health Organization.
Filmed in Cuba, South Africa, The Gambia, Honduras, and Venezuela, ¡Salud! records the voices and experiences of Cuban medical professionals at home, highlights the Cuban approach to community-based care, and explores the country’s medical diplomacy program.