Travel To Cuba To Study Public Health System November 2 – 17, 2019

This Maternal and Child delegation, at the Escuela Nacional de Salud Pública (ENSAP) in Havana, Cuba, was sponsored by Charles Drew University School of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles and led by Kathryn Hall-Trujillo, Ashoka Fellow and Founder of Birthing Project USA. Since December 2018, two organizations, Healthy Black Families, Inc. and the Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation facilitated recruitment, curriculum planning and participant preparation for this trip.

Participants had 24 hours of collective discussion about the purpose of the trip and the projected outcome. Each participant raised funds to be a part of this experience. Once driving question was, “How is it that Cuba, a very small country with minimal financial resources, was able to improve the health of its people, especially in the area of Maternal and Child Health?” Cuba is now recognized by the United Nations as having one of the lowest rates of maternal mortality, infant mortality and Caesarian sections in the world. Our tailored immersion program was led by experts in the field, who helped us develop this specific curriculum.

One critical component of this delegation was to learn the importance of understanding and respecting diverse cultural differences in the policy development, program planning and implementation of services from a population based, public health perspective. Students learned and demonstrated strategies with the intention of maximizing health outcomes for individuals and communities.

In the word of Bita Amani from Charles Drew University:

“Your trip is historic for so many reasons. First, this is the first time CDU (and quite possibly any academic institution) has partnered with a community collaborator to send a delegation that is made up of fierce advocates, activists, writers, practicers, students, and healers such as yourselves. Thank you for helping us to make this part happen.

Second, our Cuban Public Health faculty have designed a special curriculum for you all that is MCH loaded. This is also historic as previous delegations have had varied interests, but this trip is al about the babies!!

And finally, this is also a historic trip because you will be there as thousands from around the world gather in Cuba to move our planet in the direction of justice and dignity.”

The 80 hour course in Cuba was facilitated by the Republic of Cuba Ministry of Public Health, National School of Public Health, required orientation sessions, completion of assigned readings and presentations while in Cuba. Upcoming report backs are scheduled for 2020. Each student wo completed the intensive in Cuba received a Certificate of Completion from ENSAP.