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Cuba
Area: 44,200 sq. mi.; about the size of Pennsylvania
Capital: Havana (pop. 2 million)
Population: 11 million
Government: Totalitarian Communist State
General Country Information:
US intervention during the Spanish-American War in 1898 assisted the Cubans in overthrowing Spanish rule. The Treaty of Paris established Cuban independence from the US in 1902 after which the island experienced a string of governments mostly dominated by the military and corrupt politicians. Fidel CASTRO led a rebel army to victory in 1959; his iron rule held the subsequent regime together for nearly five decades. He stepped down as president in February 2008 in favor of his younger brother Raul CASTRO. Cuba's Communist revolution, with Soviet support, was exported throughout Latin America and Africa during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The country faced a severe economic downturn in 1990 following the withdrawal of former Soviet subsidies worth $4 billion to $6 billion annually. Cuba portrays its difficulties as the result of the US embargo in place since 1961. Illicit emigration is a continuing problem. Cubans attempt to depart the island and enter the US using homemade rafts, alien smugglers, direct flights, or falsified visas. Cubans also use non-maritime routes to enter the US including direct flights to Miami and over-land via the southwest border. The US Coast Guard intercepted 2,656 individuals attempting to cross the Straits of Florida in fiscal year 2007. Cuba is a Caribbean island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean- 150 km south of Key West, Florida. Total land area is 110,860 sq km - slightly smaller than Pennsylvania. Weather is tropical; moderated by trade winds; dry season (November to April); rainy season (May to October). Population is 11,451,652 (July 2010 est.) Infant mortality rate: 5.82 deaths/1,000 live births.
The government continues to balance the need for economic loosening against a desire for firm political control. It has rolled back limited reforms undertaken in the 1990s to increase enterprise efficiency and alleviate serious shortages of food, consumer goods, and services. The average Cuban's standard of living remains at a lower level than before the downturn of the 1990s, which was caused by the loss of Soviet aid and domestic inefficiencies. Since late 2000, Venezuela has been providing oil on preferential terms, and it currently supplies about 100,000 barrels per day of petroleum products. Cuba has been paying for the oil, in part, with the services of Cuban personnel in Venezuela including some 30,000 medical professionals. (source: CIA World Factbook)
Upcoming Project: Havana, Cuba – A project at the William Solar Children’s Hospital in Havana. The only hospital that deals with the critical cases of the babies and children of Romania. A project requested by the Pentecostal Churches of Cuba and Dr. Selman, the premier children’s doctor of the country.
In September of 2009, volunteers and members of Assist International completed a medical project at the William Solar Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Havana, Cuba. The Pentecostal Assemblies of God in Cuba, a group of 3,000 churches, invited Assist to do this project for children in Cuba. The most critically ill children are sent to this hospital for treatment.
The hospital was fully equipped with Intensive Care and Critical Care equipment. Assist provided six new full parameter cardiac care monitors and six “step down” monitors for post surgical care. Other equipment donated and installed included two ventilators, an cardiac ultrasound, a general ultrasound, two infant warmers, two infant incubators and six infant bassinets. Training, medical supplies and accessories were also provided.
The staff at William Solar Pediatric Teaching Hospital were very excited for these recent additions that lift the hospital to a new level of health care. The doctors and nurses are outstanding caretakers and fully dedicated in their work.
