Aguilar-Guerra TL, Reed G

Language: English
References: 5
Page: 53-57
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This thoughtful observation by The Commonwealth Fund writers seems to describe what we were fi nding in Cuban neighborhood after neighborhood, as we interviewed for this story: the backbone of Cuba’s universal public health system is also the backbone of its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Primary health care. And the results are beginning to emerge: as of April 30, 2020, through primary-care case detection and contact tracing, sources for 85.7% of the 1537 COVID-19 cases to date had been identifi ed, essential for fl attening the curve. On May 1, the New York Times reported Cuba at 13 cases per 100,000 population and less than 1 death per 100,000; well below rates in the USA, Italy, Spain, France, the UK, Canada and Brazil, among others.

REFERENCES

1. Lewis C, Seervai, Shah T, Abrams MK, Zephyrin L. Primary Care and the COVID-19 Pandemic [Internet]. New York: The Commonwealth Fund blog; 2020 Apr 22 [cited 2020 May 1]. Available at: https://www.commonwealthfund. org/blog/2020/primary-care-and-covid-19-pandemic

2. Daily Cuban Ministry of Public Health. Press conference on COVID/19 situation in Cuba offered by Dr Francisco Durán, National Director of Epidemiology, 2020 May 1.

3. NY Times [Internet]. New York: New York Times; c2020. The Coronavirus Outbreak. Maps and Tracker. Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak; 2020 May [updated 2020 May 3; cited 2020 May 1]. Available at: https://www .nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/coronavirus-maps.html

4. National Health Statistics and Medical Records Division (CU). Anuario Estadístico de Salud 2018. Havana: Ministry of Public Health (CU); 2019. p. 122. Spanish.

5. See Cuba’s COVID-19 Strategy: Main Actions Through April 23, 2020, this issue.