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While in the initial phase of the program patients were transported to Cuba to be attended there, by 2017 there were 69 [[ophthalmological]] centers in 15 countries, carrying out vision-saving and restoring surgery.<ref name="Yaffe">Yaffe, Helen. “Cuban Medical Internationalism: An Army of White Coats.” In ''We Are Cuba!: How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World'', 147–74. Yale University Press, 2020.</ref> | While in the initial phase of the program patients were transported to Cuba to be attended there, by 2017 there were 69 [[ophthalmological]] centers in 15 countries, carrying out vision-saving and restoring surgery.<ref name="Yaffe">Yaffe, Helen. “Cuban Medical Internationalism: An Army of White Coats.” In ''We Are Cuba!: How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World'', 147–74. Yale University Press, 2020.</ref> | ||
In 2006, [[Ernesto Guevara|Che Guevara]]'s own killer Mario Teran, had his eyesight treated and cataracts removed in Cuba as part of this program.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/oct/02/cuba.international] ''Cuban doctors restore sight of Che's killer'' 2 October 2007. ''The Guardian''</ref> | |||
==Origins== | ==Origins== | ||
Vision impairment is a greater issue in the [[Global South]], as in 2015 ninety percent of all [[visually impaired]] people lived in the developing world. Latin America specifically struggles with a lack of access to healthcare and malnourishment, directly affecting the eyesight of millions in the region.<ref name="Public Health in Latin America">"Public Health in Latin America." In ''An Atlas and Survey of Latin American History'', by Michael LaRosa, and German R. Mejia. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2019.</ref> Eye surgeries can cost upwards of $10,000 in medical costs.<ref name="Lamrani" /> Issues regarding poor medical systems has led to many of the twentieth century Latin American revolutions addressing gaps in medicine.<ref name="Public Health in Latin America" /> Since the [[Cuban Revolution]], the government in Cuba has committed itself to advances in healthcare.<ref name="Public Health in Latin America" /> This includes internationalist missions to Latin America and Africa, which have been an aspect of Cuba’s foreign policy and relationship to the Global South during the twentieth century.<ref name="Blue">Blue, Sarah A. “Cuban Medical Internationalism: Domestic and International Impacts.” ''Journal of Latin American Geography'' 9, no. 1 (2010): 31–49.</ref> | Vision impairment is a greater issue in the [[Global South]], as in 2015 ninety percent of all [[visually impaired]] people lived in the developing world. Latin America specifically struggles with a lack of access to healthcare and malnourishment, directly affecting the eyesight of millions in the region.<ref name="Public Health in Latin America">"Public Health in Latin America." In ''An Atlas and Survey of Latin American History'', by Michael LaRosa, and German R. Mejia. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2019.</ref> Eye surgeries can cost upwards of $10,000 in medical costs.<ref name="Lamrani" /> Issues regarding poor medical systems has led to many of the twentieth century Latin American revolutions addressing gaps in medicine.<ref name="Public Health in Latin America" /> Since the [[Cuban Revolution]], the government in Cuba has committed itself to advances in healthcare.<ref name="Public Health in Latin America" /> This includes internationalist missions to Latin America and Africa, which have been an aspect of Cuba’s foreign policy and relationship to the Global South during the twentieth century.<ref name="Blue">Blue, Sarah A. “Cuban Medical Internationalism: Domestic and International Impacts.” ''Journal of Latin American Geography'' 9, no. 1 (2010): 31–49.</ref> | ||
Revision as of 23:57, 24 March 2023
Operación Milagro (English: Operation Miracle; also Misión Milagro in Venezuela) is a program of international solidarity launched in 2004 by the governments of Cuba and Venezuela to provide free medical treatment for people with eye problems.[1] It additionally provides the countries it operates in with new medical equipment and infrastructure.[2] By 2019, over 4 million people in 34 countries had received free treatment through the program.[3] The program is integrated into the programs of the ALBA.[4]
While in the initial phase of the program patients were transported to Cuba to be attended there, by 2017 there were 69 ophthalmological centers in 15 countries, carrying out vision-saving and restoring surgery.[5]
In 2006, Che Guevara's own killer Mario Teran, had his eyesight treated and cataracts removed in Cuba as part of this program.[6]
Origins
Vision impairment is a greater issue in the Global South, as in 2015 ninety percent of all visually impaired people lived in the developing world. Latin America specifically struggles with a lack of access to healthcare and malnourishment, directly affecting the eyesight of millions in the region.[7] Eye surgeries can cost upwards of $10,000 in medical costs.[4] Issues regarding poor medical systems has led to many of the twentieth century Latin American revolutions addressing gaps in medicine.[7] Since the Cuban Revolution, the government in Cuba has committed itself to advances in healthcare.[7] This includes internationalist missions to Latin America and Africa, which have been an aspect of Cuba’s foreign policy and relationship to the Global South during the twentieth century.[8]
In the post-Soviet world, Cuban medical internationalism has greatly expanded for both political recognition and economic incentive.[8] After Hugo Chávez became the President of Venezuela in 1998, Cuba and Venezuela began an organization in 2003 called the ALBA, economically and politically connecting left-wing Latin American governments.[4] To combat illiteracy, the two governments created an initiative called “Yo, sí puedo,” or “Yes, I can.”[9] However, the program reached a roadblock, as poor vision from a lack access to healthcare in Latin America hampered the ability to read. In 2004, the Cuban and Venezuelan governments then reached an agreement to create a new program to combat the issue of poor vision and blindness, known as Operación Milagro, or Operation Miracle.
References
- ↑ "Más de tres millones de beneficiados con Operación Milagro en diez años". Cubadebate.
- ↑ Kirk, John M. (2015). Healthcare without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. pp. 96–117.
- ↑ Yaffe, Helen (2020). We are Cuba! : how a revolutionary people have survived in a post-Soviet world. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-300-24551-6. OCLC 1139710255.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lamrani, Salim. “THE BOUVARIAN ALLIANCE FOR THE PEOPLES OF OUR AMERICA: THE CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL INTEGRATION.” International Journal of Cuban Studies 4, no. 3/4 (2012): 347–65.
- ↑ Yaffe, Helen. “Cuban Medical Internationalism: An Army of White Coats.” In We Are Cuba!: How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World, 147–74. Yale University Press, 2020.
- ↑ [1] Cuban doctors restore sight of Che's killer 2 October 2007. The Guardian
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Public Health in Latin America." In An Atlas and Survey of Latin American History, by Michael LaRosa, and German R. Mejia. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2019.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Blue, Sarah A. “Cuban Medical Internationalism: Domestic and International Impacts.” Journal of Latin American Geography 9, no. 1 (2010): 31–49.
- ↑ Salim Lamrani, and Translated by Larry R. Oberg. “Fidel Castro, Hero of the Disinherited.” International Journal of Cuban Studies 8, no. 2 (2016): 151–68.