From Honiara to Havana for health reasons

I met the Ambassador of the Solomon Islands a few weeks ago. The Solomons (Honiara is the capital) are in the Pacific Ocean over 13,000 km from Cuba and they only have a few embassies around the world so you might wonder why they have recently opened one in Havana. The Ambassador, Simeon Bouro, explained to me that Cuban support is important for the Solomons’ health service –  there are more than 90 Solomon Islanders studying medicine in Cuba and a couple of Cuban doctors practicising in the Solomons. The Embassy is in Havana to maintain this level of support and see if co-operation can be extended to other areas such as disaster preparedness.

It’s widely known that Cuban medical personnel are posted by their government to health clinics and hospitals all over the world – about 37,000 currently work in over 60 countries, with many of them in Venezuela. Perhaps less well known is that literally thousands of students from different countries are in Cuba studying for their medical degrees. Many are at ELAM, the Latin American School of Medicine, in Havana but others are at Universities throughout Cuba. They come from all over the world; for example, there are more than 900 students from South Africa and a similar number from Pakistan. Some countries pay for their citizens’ studies, others don’t. One or two countries have specific arrangements; for example, a Cuban hospital has been set up in Dukhan in Qatar and is staffed by over 400 medical personnel.

Why does Cuba provide this level of medical support to other countries? Solidarity? Humanitarianism? Soft power? There may be an element of all of these but what is clear is that medical services are a source of useful income for the Cuban government – $5 billion a year by some estimates.  This makes Cuba no different from the United Kingdom where services also make up a large part of our exports (approximately £180bn ($281bn) per year). We also provide scholarships for international students to come and study in the UK (called Chevening scholarships). And, just like Cuba, the UK is deeply committed to improving the health care of the poorest and most marginalised people in the world, particularly those in fragile and post-conflict states. Our focus is different though – instead of supplying doctors and nurses, the Department for International Development (DFID) works with governments and health organisations to improve healthcare systems in the poorest countries, including supporting the development of drugs and vaccines.

An as-yet-unrevealed benefit of Cuban medical support is the large number of embassies in Havana (over 100) and the varied social life this provides. All over the world diplomats attend the national day celebrations of the countries represented in their host city. In Havana it’s no different, but here we have the benefit of hundreds of colleagues from all over the world with diverse perspectives and different backgrounds. This makes for rich and varied conversations, often about Cuba and our experiences here but also about everywhere else including now, luckily for us, the Solomons.