HIV/AIDS in Cuba: a model for care or an ethical dilemma?

HIV / AIDS is one of the most pressing health issues of our time. This virus affects the entire world. The presentation of a classmate focused my attention on HIV / AIDS in Cuba. This country has handled the outbreak of this virus differently from any other country, with surprising results. This essay will discuss the framework of HIV / AIDS policies in Cuba, results of these policies, ethical issues within these policies, and finally, whether the Cuban model is applicable to other nations in the world today. How did Cuba deal with HIV/AIDS in the past? How does Cuba deal with this virus currently? Have Cuba’s HIV/AIDS policies been effective? How can effectiveness be measured? What ethical issues are raised with Cuba’s HIV/ AIDS policies? Can Cuba’s model be applied elsewhere in the world? These are the questions tackled. Cuba’s national AIDS program is the most successful in the world based solely on statistics, and this country also has what many believe is the most interesting program in the world. Cuba took drastic action in public health even before AIDS had reached the country. On the advice of Dr. Jorge Perez, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, the government set up a National AIDS Commission in 1983 and destroyed all foreign-derived blood products. Although this action put a strain on the country’s blood supply, it enabled Cuba to escape transmission of HIV to hemophiliacs and other blood recipients. As soon as AIDS reached Cuba, the Cuban government, through the Ministry of Public Health,