Cuba Essay

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Today Cuba is a drastically suffering country. Cuba is in a terrible economic state. The average Cuban is barely able to afford even the bare minimum of living essentials. They are suffering from not having enough food and water which creates a large number of malnutrition people and a higher risk for diseases. What make matters worse is that the Cuban government cannot get the necessary medicines to treat these diseases (Kirkpatrick 1996). With less than 50 percent of the drugs on the market, Cubans do not have adequate health care and medicines. They are also denied access to technology necessary for them to become a more up to date and prosperous county. Some Cubans have not even seen their American families in years nor can they receive money as they please from their American families. This country is suffering extremely and it is starving for an economic improvement (Rampersad 2006).
Why is this country so poor and helpless? In 1962, President Kennedy issued the permanent embargo on Cuba. This embargo meant that Cuba could not have any relations with the United States. The country could not get access to any of the United States resources nor could the US get anything from them. They had restrictions on Cuban travel, food, water, medicines and anything else that could be thought of from the US. With Cuba relying on the U.S. for nearly 70% of its trade and tourism before the embargo, it made having an embargo extremely hard on Cuba. Cuba lost all of its access to the necessities in order to be a prosperous country; therefore it has become very poor (Ralston 2006).
This embargo all started after the Cuban Revolution. The Cuban Revolution consisted of Fidel Castro overthrowing Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. By 196...

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...rosperous country.
It was reported by the American Association for World Health that doctors in Cuba have access to less than 50% of the drugs on the world market. The economic embargo of the country can have a direct, negative effect on its public health. The United States embargo on Cuba is dramatically hurting the country. Cuba is restricted from the United States resources. For over 50 years an embargo by the USA has limited Cuba's ability to purchase foods and medicines. In 1992, the USA enacted the Cuban Democracy Act (CDA), which slightly released the sale of medicines from the embargo. There are so many limitations to this act that it is barely assessable. The effect on Cuba's health system is increased costs, shipping delays, and restricted access to some of the most important medical products because they are subject to US jurisdiction (Kirkpatrick 1996).

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