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href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Cuban-Doctors-to-Help-Patients-in-South-Side-Chicago-20180117-0018.html">https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Cuban-Doctors-to-Help-Patients-in-South-Side-Chicago-20180117-0018.html</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Cuban Doctors to Help Patients in South
Side Chicago<br>
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<div id="reader-estimated-time">Published 17 January 2018 </div>
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<p>With no solution in sight regarding infant mortalities,
residents of Chicago's South Side, home to numerous
predominantly Black neighborhoods, have resorted to
mentors from the Cuban Ministry of Public Health for
help. </p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>RELATED: </strong><br>
<a
href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Cuba-Selects-Former-FARC-Rebels-to-Train-as-Doctors-as-Pledged-20170820-0011.html">Cuba
Selects Former FARC Rebels to Train as Doctor</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Why? The small socialist island, though it has endured
a half-century economic blockade imposed by the United
States, has an infant mortality rate (4.3 per 1,000
people) lower than its neighbor to the north (5.7 per
1,000 people), according to the World Health
Organization.</p>
<p>In fact, Cuba's infant mortality rate is significantly
lower than some of the poorest parts of the United
States. A good example is the neighborhood of Englewood.
With an infant mortality rate of 14.5 babies per 1,000,
its statistics mirrors that of war-torn Syria.</p>
<p>“Cuba is not a rich country,” said Dr. Jose Armando
Arronte-Villamarin, one of the Cuban doctors helping the
people of Chicago's South Side. “(Therefore) we have to
develop the human resources, at the primary health care
level.”</p>
<p>Even health workers at the prestigious University of
Illinois at Chicago are adopting Cuban health surveys
during home visits in Englewood.</p>
<p>“Sometimes the answers are in the most unexpected
places,” Tossas-Milligan said, adding that “sometimes
it’s hard for us to face the reality that, as much as we
spend, we have somehow not been successful at keeping
our babies alive.”</p>
<p>A health partnership signed between the University of
Illinois Cancer Center and the Cuban Ministry of Public
Health has teamed up three Cuban doctors and a nurse
with their U.S. counterparts during home visits to 50
women of reproductive age in Englewood, according to
Kaiser Health News.</p>
<p>In exchange for a US$50 stipend, the women respond to a
questionnaire that includes questions such as: “In the
last 12 months, have you had any problems with any bug
infestations, rodents or mold?” or “Have you ever had
teeth removed or crowned because of a cavity?”</p>
<p>The questions cover a range of topics, including
emotional well-being to condition of one's residence.</p>
<p>Kathy Tossas-Milligan, an epidemiologist working on the
program, said the women who are classified as being at a
higher risk for miscarriage will be recommended for
additional home visits. She said the idea is to attend
to women's medical issues at home and at an early stage
in order to prevent the high cost of hospital bills.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em><strong>RELATED:<br>
<a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Why-Cuba-Has-a-Higher-Life-Expectancy---the-Tattered-US-Healthcare-System-20170903-0016.html">Why
Cuba Has a Higher Life Expectancy - the Tattered
US Healthcare System</a></strong></em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>She went on to state that “what we are hoping to
discover is issues in Englewood that truly impact
health, that are not being collected” and that “doctors
cannot see when they come and see (a) woman, and
prescribe her one pill.”</p>
<p>In 2017, Cuba’s infant mortality rate was 4.1 per 1,000
live births, the lowest in the history of the Caribbean
socialist country.</p>
<p>"This is a milestone that reflects the integration of
the entire health care system in the country, which is
about lives saved, quality of life, happiness and
satisfaction for our people," said the Minister of
Public Health, Roberto Morales. </p>
<p>Apart from sending their medical expertise to the
United States, Cuba's Latin American School of Medicine,
popularly known as ELAM, has trained young students from
poor communities, mainly in Latin America and Caribbean
countries, to become doctors free of charge. The school,
which was founded in 1999, even accepts students from
economically disadvantaged backgrounds in the United
States, as well as several African nations.</p>
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