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.🇨🇺 Healthcare with Heart: How Cuba Treats Community as Medicine


What if your doctor knew your name, your story, and even visited your home?

In Cuba, healthcare is not just a public service. It is a relationship. One built on trust, routine connection, and community support.


In a country with limited resources but boundless commitment, Cuba has created a healthcare system that surprises many — not because it is high-tech, but because it is deeply human.


This week in our Healthcare Around the World series, we’re visiting Cuba. A place where medicine begins with knowing your neighbor, and healing is woven into the rhythm of everyday life.


🩺 Medicine for All, Rooted in the Neighborhood

Cuba offers free healthcare to all of its citizens. Despite economic hardships, it has one of the most comprehensive and community-centered systems in the world.

✔️ Universal and Free AccessFrom routine checkups to surgeries and specialist care, everything is covered by the state. Healthcare is considered a right, not a privilege, and the entire system is designed to meet people where they are.

✔️ Family Doctors on Every BlockEvery neighborhood has its own doctor and nurse team who live within the community. These providers are responsible for a few hundred families, making house calls regularly and building long-term relationships with their patients.

✔️ Focus on Prevention, Not Just CureBecause doctors know their patients personally, they often catch health issues early. Preventative care is prioritized, and health education is part of everyday conversations — not just something you hear once a year.


🌿 Health as a Way of Living, Not a Service You Chase

In Cuba, wellness is community-centered. It is about caring for one another in ways that feel familiar and accessible.

🌞 Care Comes to YouDoctors routinely make home visits — especially for elders, new mothers, or those managing chronic illness. You are not expected to navigate healthcare alone. The system brings support to your doorstep.

🌱 Emphasis on Holistic and Herbal CareDue to limited access to pharmaceuticals, Cuba has embraced traditional herbal remedies and plant-based medicine. Many clinics integrate natural healing approaches alongside conventional treatment.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Medical Education with a MissionCuba trains more doctors per capita than most countries in the world. Medical students learn in the communities they will serve, creating a deep sense of purpose and empathy. Many Cuban doctors also volunteer internationally.


💡 What We Can Learn

Cuba’s system reminds us that healthcare does not have to be high-tech to be effective. It just needs to be personal, consistent, and rooted in care.

Here are a few ideas worth bringing into our own wellness spaces:

  • Build consistent relationships with care providers when possible

  • Prioritize community support in healing — health is not a solo journey

  • Embrace preventative care and open conversations about health

  • Honor traditional and herbal remedies as part of holistic wellness

  • Value the presence of a provider who listens and shows up


Final Thoughts 🌸

Cuba proves that connection is a form of care. In a system where doctors walk your neighborhood, know your family, and check in face-to-face, healing feels less clinical — and more human.

As we continue exploring the world’s healthcare systems, Cuba reminds us that sometimes the most advanced tool we have is compassion.


📍Next up: India — where centuries-old wisdom like Ayurveda lives alongside cutting-edge care.

💌 Follow us or subscribe to our newsletter to keep journeying through a world of wellness — one story at a time.

 
 
 

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Disclaimer: Dr. Waite is a certified health coach trained by the Health Coach Institute who works to achieve “habit change” (adoption of health-enhancing practices) via coaching. As a health coach, she does not diagnose or treat disease, prescribe medication, or perform the functions of clinical occupations. For those things, she recommends that you consult your healthcare provider. We are happy to work with your healthcare provider’s professional guidance to best support your well-being.

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