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Not Feminist, but not bad: Cuba''s surprisingly pro-woman health system.

Article Excerpt
In April, Women's Health Specialists sent two representatives to Cuba to explore health care and other aspects of everyday life for women there. As a feminist organization that strives to empower women to make their own medical decisions, we would seem an unlikely match for a country whose policies are famously top-down, with little tolerance for decision-making at the individual level. But we were impressed by much of what we saw.

Over the course of 10 days, in talking with and observing health professionals and ordinary Cubans in several cities, we saw a country that manages to provide free health services to everyone and that places a high value on prenatal care and breast-feeding. We didn't research hard data to verify what we saw and were told, but as American women we relished being able to viscerally experience a culture that has no stigma on abortion or birth control, that allows women and girls to live without fear of sexual violence, that teaches sex education at an early age and embraces sexuality as normal.

Coordinated Health Care Delivery

The Cuban health system coordinates three points of health care delivery: a family doctor in each neighborhood (one for every 150 people), a 24-hour "polyclinic" for urgent care and a hospital, including separate maternity hospitals for births and abortions. When a Cuban hasn't been to the doctor for more than six months, his or her family doctor--who knows every person individually--makes a house call regardless of whether the person has a known health problem. The system emphasizes...

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