The Cuba Partnership Resource Manual

Health Issues and Medical Recommendations

Last Updated (Thursday, 24 February 2011 19:25) Written by John Walter Thursday, 24 February 2011 19:20

For most third world travelers the dos and don’ts are pretty obvious and needn’t be repeated here.  
Cuba shares most of those don’ts, but there are exceptions worth noting.

Water:

Don’t drink the water, even to rinse your toothbrush.


Food Preparation:

Our Baltimore Presbytery delegations are hosted by individual El Centro Presbytery churches.
That’s not the case with many other PCUSA partnerships in Cuba who stay in hotels during their visits.  
Over the years our delegations have experienced the usual kinds of upset stomach issues, typically
cured with Imodium;  only once in ten years was it serious enough to warrant a doctor’s visit. We
have never had to evacuate anyone from Cuba.

Most of Cuba’s vegetables and fruit is produced in either back yard or small organic farms.
The issue is in rinsing it with city water.  It’s Russian roulette.

Likewise much of the food prepared during stays is raised in backyard fincas (farms), poultry
and pork being the two most prevalent meats. These local foods have never presented a health
risk; it’s any canned foods purchased to supplement meals that may be suspect.  In any case,
trust your host, they know how to keep themselves and you healthy.


Medical Recommendations

Although Cuba has expert medical help at all of its local Poly-clinicas, most likely they will
not be able to accommodate some of our more sophisticated time release medicines.

The best approach is to consult your personal physician; determine if a 24 delay in
receiving medical treatment for any pre-existing condition you might have would be
of grave concern; and should there be a real concern, the proper course of action would
be to opt out of the trip on his / her advise.

Normal one week supplies of personal medicines will not attract any attention in Cuba.
But if you have a condition requiring use of Controlled Medicines, you MUST bring a
copy of the prescription with you and the medicine MUST be in the container supplied
by the pharmacist.

Failure to do this may (if they suspect something, either rightly or  wrongly) lead to your
medicines being reduced or completely confiscated, which in turn will likely subvert the
whole week’s itinerary to addressing your personal needs.

Normally, one can find OTC meds like aspirin at the farmacias in Cuba; and while the price
of a small bottle of aspirin seems very much like what you’d expect to pay here in the US,
keep in mind that the average Cuban may earn less than 300 cuban pesos a month, not 300
CUCs, and that $1.50 bottle of aspirin you didn’t think twice about buying would cost them 7
5 cuban pesos, 25% of their monthly salary. Catch 22.

The moral of the story is to bring (and leave) such medicines with your host church.
That goes for personal care items as well.