11 Feb New MEDICC Review Profiles Cuban Women of Science and Previews 2019 Global Health
February 11, 2019–– The latest issue of MEDICC Review interviews virologist Dr Guadalupe Guzmán, one of the Americas’ top researchers in dengue, Zika and other arboviruses. She heads the WHO/PAHO Collaborating Center for Dengue and its Control at Havana’s Pedro Kourí Tropical Medicine Institute. “No better way to celebrate this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and to continue our series on Cuban Women of Science,” notes Managing Editor Dr Christina Mills. The wide-ranging conversation with Dr Guzmán also explores innovations in Cuba’s approach to dengue, including the all-important role social scientists play in devising more effective strategies to ensure community participation in dengue prevention and control.
This issue looks ahead to 2019 through dual lenses of threats and opportunities. First, one set of articles examines Cuba’s efforts to address several of what the WHO has listed as the top ten threats to global health this year. On the opportunity side, in 
Cuba and the Global Year of Universal Health, Dr Cristian Morales, former PAHO/WHO representative in Cuba, reflects on commitment by the Americas’ governments to universal health and strategies for transforming health systems to advance towards this goal. The interview offers a preview of the topic for MEDICC Review’s special issue in September 2019, examining specific Cuban contributions to universal health. It is designed to coincide with the UN General Assembly’s first High-Level Meeting on universal health—coverage plus access—with the world’s health ministers participating. On a related note: worth watching will be this month’s voter referendum on a new Cuban constitution. The draft, which must be approved at the polls, upholds the right to free, universal and public health care.
Additional Editors’ Choice selections include Comprehensive Care for Cuban Children in the First 1000 Days of Life, describing the primary care network’s role in health outcomes for infants and children through the first two years of life, and analyzing the results according to the recommendations of the 1000 Days indicators.
An Original Research paper in this issue addresses Cuban scientific production on diabetes, an important cause of death and disability in Cuba and worldwide. The article is a reminder that research capability and public health achievements don’t automatically translate into publication or wider dissemination.
See the current issue for the full Table of Contents and links to articles, or to download the entire issue.
MEDICC Review is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal published by MEDICC (1714 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA), a US not-for-profit organization dedicated to fostering cooperation among the US, Cuban and global health communities aimed at improved health and health equity.
MEDICC Review’s mission is to uphold the highest standards of ethics and excellence, publishing open-access articles in English relevant to global health equity that offer the best of medical, population health and social sciences research and perspectives by Cuban and other developing-country professionals. It is indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE, Clarivate, SciELO, and Elsevier, among other services. For more information, contact editors@mediccreview.org or for advertising admin@mediccreview.org