Applications from Cuba: MEDICC's Community Partnerships for Health Equity

Community organizations and academic faculty have a great potential to transform health outcomes, but the horizon is often limited by the lack of functioning models to spur innovative thinking. Since 1997 MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba) has guided over 2,000 students and health professionals to observe Cuba's health system. MEDICC's Community Partnerships for Health Equity (CPHE) programs went a step further, to not only observe Cuba's working models, but to bring back “lessons learned” to improve health access, equity and health care in the US. Between 2008-2010 MEDICC implemented a CPHE program in Oakland, California, in which approximately 30 community health leaders and Berkeley School of Public Health faculty traveled to Cuba. Cuba, an economically isolated country, has slowly and methodically transformed its population into one of the world's healthiest. A striking feature of this accomplishment is that Cuba does not conform to the conventional wisdom of health=wealth. The Cuban public health system blends population health and clinical medicine; with an emphasis on prevention and health promotion. A primary outcome of this program has been stronger collaborations among Oakland public health organizations. CPHE has been a catalyst for Alameda County Health Department's Portals of Health initative. Oakland's public hospital (Highland) has increased emphasis on primary care, and for the past 3 years has offered summer clinical experiences to US medical students studying in Cuba. This new and exciting workforce has also inspired Oakland's Faces for the Future program.