Health and Safety in Cuba

Cuba has a very healthy environment except for the water; even many Cubans boil their water. The best solution is to boil the water before drinking it or buy bottled water (agua embotellada) which is easy to find in the country. It usually cost between 65 cents and 2 CUC for a 1.5 liter bottle, depending on the shop.

Although the Cuban government operates a national health system and assumes fiscal and administrative responsibility for the health care of its citizens, there are still no private hospitals or clinics permitted. Like the rest of the Cuban economy, Cuban medical care has suffered from severe material shortages following the end of Soviet subsidies and the ongoing United States embargo against Cuba that began after the Cuban agrarian reform. The chance of a Cuban child dying at 5 years of age or younger is 7 per 1000 live births in Cuba as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). The rate of abortion in the country is one of the highest in Latin America and also one explanation for the low infant mortality rate. In 1990, it increased dramatically but had almost halved by 1999 and declined to near 1970s levels of 32.0 per pregnancies.

It was once reported by the UNAIDS that there were an estimated 3,300 Cubans living with HIV and AIDS (approximate of 0.5 percent of the population). In the mid-1980’s, when the virus is not yet that known, thousands of Cubans compulsory tested for HIV. Those who have tested positive were taken to Los Cocos and were not allowed to leave the premises.