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Health Check: Why Cubans are Dying of Rich Peoples Diseases

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Why Cubans are Dying of Rich Peoples Diseases

2015/12/09 GMT

BBC World Service - Health Check, Why Cubans are Dying of Rich Peoples Diseases

Why are Cubans dying of heart disease, stroke and cancer?

Why are Cubans dying of heart disease, stroke and cancer? Can their health service cope with challenges that traditionally face richer countries?

The Cuban health service delivers some impressive results, for a fraction of the amount spent on healthcare in wealthier countries. But it also faces serious problems. Cubans no longer die of infectious illnesses – free, universal healthcare and a countrywide vaccination programme have put an end to that – but they are dying of heart disease, stroke and cancer, the same diseases that claim lives in high-income countries. It has been said that Cubans live like the poor and die like the rich. In this second of two special programmes from Havana, Claudia Hammond reports on how the Cuban health service is responding to these new challenges. 

(Photo: Cuban Hospital. Credit: Getty Images)

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