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COVID-19 has been a challenge for the Cuban economy, which has been undergoing a reorganization process since 2011 with the aim of adopting a more flexible economic model. This article is an exploratory study on the participation of a group of Cuban emigres in the private sector. The research focuses its efforts on determining what changes have occurred in these businesses in the pandemic stage, and whether the condition of owner -emigrant has influenced ?or not? the development of economic activity. It is an exploratory study, which uses a semi-structured interview with 5 subjects who own their businesses. The results point to resilient behaviors in the midst of the crisis, although negative criteria prevail over the long-term repercussions for the private sector due to COVID-19.
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BACKGROUND: This paper responds to Asante et al. (in Hum Resour Health, 2014), providing an updated picture of the impacts of Cuban medical training in the Pacific region based on research carried out in 2019-2021, which focused on the experiences of Pacific Island doctors trained in Cuba and their integration into practice in their home countries. METHODS: The research focussed on two case studies-Solomon Islands and Kiribati. Study methods for this research included multi-sited ethnographic methods and semi-structured interviews as well as qualitative analysis of policy documents, reports, and media sources. RESULTS: The Cuban health assistance programme has had a significant impact on the medical workforce in the Pacific region increasing the number of doctors employed by Pacific Ministries of Health between 2012 and 2019. Qualitatively, there have been some notable improvements in the medical workforce and health delivery over this period. However, the integration of the Cuban-trained doctors into practise has been challenging, with criticisms of their clinical, procedural and communication skills, and the need for the rapid development of bridging and internship training programmes (ITPs) which were inadequately planned for at the outset of the programme. CONCLUSIONS: The Cuban programme in the Pacific is an important model of development assistance for health in the region. While Cuba's offer of scholarships was the trigger for a range of positive outcomes, the success of the programme has relied on input from a range of actors including support from other governments and institutions, and much hard work by the graduates themselves, often in the face of considerable criticism. Key impacts of the programme to date include the raw increase in the number of doctors and the development of the ITPs and career pathways for the graduates, although this has also led to the reorientation of Cuban graduates from preventative to curative health. There is considerable potential for these graduates to contribute to improved health outcomes across the region, particularly if their primary and preventative health care skills are utilised.
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Internship and Residency , Physicians , Humans , Cuba , Pacific IslandsABSTRACT
The search for solutions to global environmental change has been a concern of the Cuban State and government since the early years of the revolutionary process. Fact that is evidenced in the environmental projection, through the conception of public policies aimed at reversing its deterioration and promoting sustainable practices from the ecological, economic, social and cultural aspects, even in difficult contexts such as the well-known Special Period and the current pandemic generated by the Covid-19. The country's bets are not only made from a centralized and vertical approach, which respond to national and international scenarios and specific situations, but also through self-managed processes from civil society where horizontality and multi-actor dialogue prevail in in order to achieve a system based on social and environmental justice that articulates multiple institutions and collective subjects. The following work, from a qualitative and quantitative methodology, addresses the concrete impacts and the transformative capacity of the public policies outlined by the country, from the revolutionary triumph to the context of the pandemic in terms of energy sovereignty, sustainable agriculture and climate change. Analysis that is enriched with the visibility of projects created from civil society in pursuit of achieving the necessary eco-social transformation. Imbrication that provides an overview of the progress and challenges of public policies in conjunction with projects promoted by civil society in environmental matters, and has the novelty of interrelating processes aimed at reversing environmental conditions framed within dissimilar historical contexts, thus reflecting the broad struggle in the face of global environmental change within the revolutionary process.
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Introduction: the systematic analysis of the relationships between relevant psychological variables for sports performance and injuries is essential to contribute to their prevention in specific sports. Material and methods: a descriptive-correlational and cross-sectional study was carried out in the first category women's national softball championship in Cuba. 88 athletes participated with an average chronological age of 22.91 (SD=6.13) and a sports experience of 10.83 years (SD=4.92). A specific questionnaire, the Competitive Sport Anxiety Inventory and the Psychological Inventory of Sport Execution was applied. Descriptive statistics and Kendall's Tau_b nonparametric correlation coefficient was used for data analysis. Results: A high injury load was verified with a low perception of the role of psychological factors in its etiology, as well as a notable occurrence of new injuries with negative emotional repercussions. Negative correlations of self-confidence, negative coping control, visual-imaginative control, positive coping control, and attitude control with history of injuries were obtained. The high anxiety showed significant relationships with previous injuries and new injuries during the analyzed competition. Conclusions: the findings are especially congruent with previous results in elite softball players, although new and greater relationships between variables were determined. All this means that stimulating psychological skills to control anxiety in competition could contribute to the prevention of injuries. However, longitudinal analyzes are required to confirm the predictive role of these variables before proposing psychological interventions in this regard.
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The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) generated a crisis;however, it also gave us an opportunity to imagine the future and build a better world. Moreover, as we are convinced of the importance of understanding the lessons of history when facing both current and future challenges, this chapter seeks to present a concise overview of global crises since the end of the nineteenth century and to show crises for which we ignored the warning signs and wakeup calls, the consequences of said crises and how we managed to recover and thrive in several cases. Ultimately, we seek to justify the capacity of humanity to build a sustainable future-ideally, a regenerative future. © 2022 Emerald Publishing Limited.
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Biotechnology is one of the most important sciences in Cuba, with Fidel Castro at the helm as its main promoter, early on it was decided to promote it as one of the main industries for future national development. The present work set out to argue the futuristic vision of Fidel Castro in the development of Cuban biotechnology. Since the founding of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and the Finlay Institute, it has been possible to respond accurately to several of the events that occur in the world and within the nation;related to the treatment of cancer, various viral diseases and more recently, with the effective confrontation of the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.
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Introduction: COVID-19 has the potential to impact any population group, however, older adults have a worse prognosis and a higher mortality rate. Objective: Characterize the clinical-epidemiological variables of older adults with SARS-CoV-2 in the first three months of the epidemic in Cuba. Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in Cuban patients aged 60 years and older, with epidemiological discharge of SARS-CoV-2 infection, between March 11 and June 11, 2020. A questionnaire with clinical and sociodemographic variables was applied. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS 22.0 statistical package. Results: 241 patients were studied, 52.3 % presented mild or moderate symptoms. There was an increase in average age from asymptomatic to severe. Blood group O (46.1%) was the most frequent;however, those in group A showed an increased risk of developing symptoms. The most common associated diseases were high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus. Fever, dry cough and shortness of breath were the most frequent symptoms. Conclusions: Patients with blood group A, hypertensive patients and associated cardiovascular diseases presented an increased risk of suffering from symptomatic forms. The vulnerability of older adults comes not only from their age, but also from associated chronic diseases, which is why the protection of this population group is essential.
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An analysis was performed of the academic research studies about Information Management conducted at the School of Communication of the University of Havana as diploma, master's and PhD theses in the period 1993-2019 with the purpose of assessing the subtopics dealt with, the supervisors overseeing the research and the stages into which the studies were structured. Digital versions were used, since the originals were not available due to the situation posed by the COVID pandemic. The methods used were document analysis and questionnaire. A questionnaire was applied to a group of Cuban institutions which had incorporated this process into their management to evaluate its effect on daily activities. Results include determination of the most productive topics on each level and identification of the supervisors overseeing them. The objects of study of these theses were central government agencies and their branches, research institutes, national subordination production enterprises and centers specializing in information services. Of the total institutions surveyed, 66% had been analyzed in undergraduate and graduate theses, bringing to light the effect of those theses on the development of this function on an institutional level. The contents analyzed in this study reflect the effort made for more than 25 years to broaden knowledge about these information management approaches and obtain better results in the area of decision making and the use of information in organizational processes. © 2022, Centro Nacional de Informacion de Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.
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Introduction: In presence of the COVID-19 pandemic emerges the need of designing a Cuban protocol of action for the care of these cases, which creation mainly requires the selection of contents, as well as a suitable structuring. Objective: Structure the Cuban Protocol of action for the care of COVID-19 cases. Methods: There were applied the following methods: theoretical historical logical, documental analysis, systematization, synthetic analysis and concreteness ion. It was applied the technique of bibliographic review of normative documents, scientific publications indexed in international databases and web sites, in addition to the consultation to specialists. The structuring process of the Cuban Protocol of action for the care of COVID-19 cases was carried out in three phases: pre-structuring, structuring and review. Results: The final structure of the protocol was formed by four chapters, bibliography and annexes. Conclusions: The design of a protocol of action has two main processes: the selection of the contents and the structuring, and for them, the pertinent work teams must be formed. The structuring of the Cuban protocol of action for the care of COVID-19 cases is a methodological process developed in three phases that facilitate its improvement through constant review. It is formed by four chapters that favour its understanding and application being a document that contain the generalities, the management of cases according to groups and by levels of care and transfer, from the preventive scenario to the care to convalescent patients;and includes the management of corpses, as well as consulted bibliography and annexes.
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The National Medical Sciences Information Center and its Publishing House should follow up the behavior of the national scientific production as a basis for decision making. The present bibliometric study was designed to fulfill this task. The purpose of the study was to characterize the behavior of the scientific production about COVID-19 published in Cuban medical journals from 11 March to 11 June 2020. The sample was 106 documents about COVID-19 published during the period, which were analyzed with the methods used in metric studies of information. Bibliometric indicators of output, collaboration and impact were applied. In bibliometric terms, scientific communication about COVID-19 in Cuban medical journals was characterized by a gradual increase in the number of studies. Cuban institutions and their researchers showed a high degree of leadership in research and scientific communication processes. The strategies designed to manage scientific publications in the time of the pandemic exhibited positive results. A tendency was observed toward scientific collaboration, wherein universities stood out for their productivity. Outstanding actions include the establishment of multisectoral institutional alliances, as well as studies conducted by specialists from various fields which obtained results of a high scientific value, validating the leadership of Cuba in research about COVID-19, despite the economic and political situation in the region. © 2021, Centro Nacional de Informacion de Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.
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The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), first identified in 2019 and still raging at the time of writing in 2021, has impacted on every sphere of life in every country. This situation is almost unprecedented apart from the two World Wars of the 20th Century and has pervaded both the mainstream media (print, broadcast and online) and social media. This article surveys the media reporting and representation of various controversies in the first few months of the lockdown in South Africa, from 23 March to 17 August 2020. It is based on a content analysis of articles culled from two aggregated online news sites, News24.com (www.news24.com) and the South African Independent Online (IOL) (www.iol.co.za). After an initial survey of the material, three dominant themes were chosen on which to focus: the manner in which the security forces, made up of the South African Police (SAP) and sections of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), enforced the lockdown in its early phases;the ban placed on alcohol and tobacco products during the first three levels of the lockdown;and the highly controversial deployment of medical staff from Cuba who came to South Africa in order to aid South African medical personnel. These themes were purposely chosen for their dominance in the news coverage of COVID-19 related controversies. © 2021 The Author. All Rights Reserved.
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Background: The study of aspects related to positive mental health and well-being in the general population with a gender approach is a necessity in the current context imposed by COVID-19. Objective: To explore gender as a predictor of subjective well-being during COVID-19 in a sample of the Cuban population. Design: A cross-sectional web-based survey design was adopted. The sample consisted of 129 Cuban participants. The Subjective Well-being-Reduced Scale (SW-RS) was used to explore subjective well-being in the sample. Descriptive statistics were used to explore the participants' characteristics. A multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify variables independently associated with the participants' subjective well-being. Results: The gender of participants significantly predicted subjective well-being levels. The probability of males having middle or high levels of subjective well-being, rather than low levels, was 4.16 times greater than in females. The probability of males having a high self-image instead of a low one was 4.35 times greater than in females. According to the self-satisfaction dimension, the odds of males having high rather than low self-satisfaction were five times more than in females. In this sample, gender did not predict whether participants had middle or high levels of the hedonic dimension. Conclusion: Our results corroborated international studies that have indicated the coincidence of lower well-being and greater psychosocial risk in women during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results also indicated the need to dig deeper into the experiences of subjective well-being from a gender perspective, and to strengthen the sufficiency and effectiveness of the actions and guidance that are offered to the population from psychological care services, the media, and public policies.
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The article is devoted to the activity of Afro-Cuban cults, mostly Santeria and Palo, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and tackles issues of sacred visualization as well as the symbolic representation of the epidemic experience. While combining information from digital communities with data collected from informants the author considers the religious and magic rites which are practiced to protect health from the infection. The author analyzes them in the context of traditional spiritual visions. Analysis shows that the main sacred addressee of believers in this process is Orisha Babalu Aye, syncretized with the Catholic Saint Lazarus and mpungu Kubayende. At the same time believers turn to other forces for protection, especially to the ancestral spirits, the so-called egguns. Field materials indicate the emergence of network rituals designed to unite believers during the ban on group religious practices. In this regard, the reflection on the ritual space by Santeria and Palo followers is interesting. The author pays special attention to the activities of the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba which are intended to form the religious and mythological perception of the pandemic as well as to support governmental measures of sanitary control and social distancing. © N. A. MANICHKIN
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BACKGROUND: Risk perception about COVID-19 constitutes an important variable contributing to promotion of personal protection practices. The aims of this study were to exploring the factorial structure of the risk perception COVID-19 scale (RP-COVID19-S) in a sample of Cuban adults and to identify its relationship with variables such as gender and age. METHODS: A cross-sectional web-based survey design was conducted. The sample comprised 394 Cuban participants. Categorical Principal Component Analysis (CATPCA) was used to explore internal factorial structure of the scale. Logistic regression was modeling to identify variables independently associated with RP about COVID-19. RESULTS: CATPCA allowed identifying a three-dimensional factorial structure into the scale: knowledge and beliefs, emotional reactions and behavioral dissonance, and motivations for change. The odds of a woman with middle RP compared to low RP was 2.17 times more than for a man. Also, the odds of a woman with high knowledge and beliefs compared to low knowledge and beliefs were 1.96 times more than for a man. The odds of a person in older group, with middle risk perception compared with low level, was 5.0 (global risk perception), 3.33 (knowledge and beliefs), and 3.13 (emotional reactions and behavioral dissonance) times more than for a person in younger group, respectively. CONCLUSION: The Risk Perception to COVD-19 Scale (RP-COVID-19-S) showed satisfactory psychometric properties to evaluated risk perception related to COVID-19 in Cuban population sample. Middle level of global risk perception was found in the sample. High level of risk perception about COVID-19 was found on participants older than 42 years old and in woman.
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We address the impact of the tropical environment on the human nervous system using the multifaceted approach characteristic of environmental neurology. First, environmental factors are examined according to their nature (physical, chemical and biological) and in relation to human activity and behavior. Some factors are specific to the tropics (climate and infections), while others are non-specific (chemicals, human communities and their way of life). Second, we examine the major role of human adaptation to the success of Homo sapiens, with emphasis on the linkage between thermoregulation and sleep-wake regulation. Third, we examine the performance of environmental neurology as a clinical discipline in tropical climates, with focus on the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges posed by human African trypanosomiasis. Finally, the prevention, early detection and monitoring of environmental neurological diseases is examined, as well as links with political and economic factors. In conclusion, practitioners of environmental neurology seek a global, multidisciplinary and holistic approach to understanding, preventing and treating neurological disorders within their purview. Environmental neurology integrates an expanded One Health concept by linking health and wellness to the interaction of plants, animals, humans and the ecosystem. Recent epidemics and the current COVID-19 pandemic exemplify the need for worldwide action to protect human health and biodiversity.