12 May MEDICC Review Journal Now Online: CUBA, LATIN AMERICA WEIGH IN ON COVID-19
May 12, 2020—Unpredictable as some of the leaders trying to tame it, COVID-19 has cut a swath through the Americas: from a high of some 1.4 million cases in the USA, on to Brazil, topping the southern cone at nearly 200,000, then to just 3 cases in the Caribbean’s Anguilla. But more important: a few countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Cuba among them, seem to be doing a better job of flattening the curve. While the USA has 412 cases and 24 deaths per 100,000 population, Cuba and several others in the region hover around 15 cases and under 1 death per 100,000.
This is one reason why this issue of 
. Here’s a glimpse:
Against the backdrop of a sobering forecast, Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says the crisis can only be overcome with solidarity-based policies with a rights-oriented approach to leave no one behind. A tall order for the world’s most unequal region.
Top Cuban biotech researchers detail the 15 projects in their pipeline to bring new diagnostics, therapies and vaccines into play.
Dr Jeanette Vega of Chile, member of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board whose report warning of a pandemic went unheeded last fall, discusses why health care should be a public good, not a commodity.
Dr Joaquín Morante, a pulmonologist and critical care doctor from The Bronx who was trained in Cuba, gives a personal account of his days and nights in a New York public hospital.
Key to Cuba’s low COVID-19 caseload and death toll: Cuban’s 20,000 family doctors and nurses, plus another 28,000 medical students are still going door-to-door, actively detecting cases and following up on released patients.
Leaders of Mexico’s Council of Science and Technology look at human activity responsible for zoonoses and a call for greater scientific collaboration to influence policymakers.
And more.
For full Table of Contents see www.mediccreview.org
MEDICC Review is a unique platform for Latin American and Caribbean praxis addressing today’s critical interactions between human health, development of sustainable societies, and the health of our planet. MEDICC Review is published by MEDICC, a US nonprofit organization founded in 1997 based in Oakland, California, USA, and dedicated to US, Cuban and global health cooperation and equity. Its peer-reviewed and all other online content are open access.