[ Back to List of Articles | Close This Window ]
Health gains in Cuba[Back to Top | Back to List of Articles ]Published in the May 21 News and Observer, by Arny Post
Jose Infante, who left Cuba in 1961, is quoted in a May 19 article as saying "we have to think of the thousands of people who are dying trying to leave Cuba."
We should also think of the hundreds of thousands of Cubans who are much better off with Fidel Castro than they were under Fulgencio Batista.
According to The Guardian (London) of Oct. 5, 2000, when Castro came to power life expectancy in Cuba was 48 years for men and 54 years for women. In 2000, men?s life expectancy was 74 and that of women 76, much like in the United States. Infant mortality rate was 6.9 per 100,000 births in 2000. This information is from a report by officials of the UK?s Department of health and 100 family doctors who visited Cuba in 2000.