Cuban Influence

To better understand the healthcare system in Bolivia, we partnered with Ayenida who is the director of hospital networks containing 5 provinces with 57 hospitals; she administrates all of them. Before camp, she took Maggie, Lourdes and me on a tour of one of her provinces. We visited a couple of hospitals and I was surprised to learn that mother mortality while giving birth is extremely high. Many mothers prefer to give birth at home since they are often scared of hospitals. As a result, when they deliver at home, they do not take out the placenta and therefore develop an infection and die.

Just as mothers fear going to the hospital to deliver, many diabetics fear taking insulin because they associate the insulin with complications that can occur with diabetes. Pablo a 29 year old with Type I ended up with a kidney transplant and Yanira has gone blind in one eye. When Yanira's mother died of complications related to diabetes, her father blamed it on the insulin. He refused to allow Yanira to continue taking insulin until she finally lost an eye. Doctors finally convinced him otherwise to allow her to continue her insulin treatment. Other complications of diabetes include foot ulcers and amputations. Although diabetes requires out of pocket costs, general healthcare is more affordable.

Interestingly, Castro is supporting Bolivia's healthcare system by providing funding for new hospitals as well as loaning Cuban doctors to Bolivia. Some local doctors are not thrilled with the influx of Cuban doctors because of the cultural differences as well as a few complications under Cuban doctor care. But due to Castro's generosity, healthcare is more widely available.

Morales has recently implemented government paid health insurance for all children until 5 years of age and for adults older than 59 years old. For those in between in age, the hospitals in some provinces provide free healthcare or health care visits for only $1.50. Cuba's money is helping pay for these costs, but I'm not sure how affordable healthcare is in other regions.