Communicable and Non-communicable diseases in Cuba
Jalyn Lenoir
Institutional Affiliation
Instructor’s Name
Child 415
11/14/2020
Communicable and Non-communicable diseases in Cuba
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are among the greatest challenges affecting the 21st century in the health industry. Mortality rates in Cuba are determined by four major health issues: cardiovascular diseases, malignant tumors, diseases of the respiratory tract, and diabetes mellitus, which contribute to 68% of the deaths. This statistic is for the period between 1990 and 2018. Cancer trends continue to grow in the number of affected patients and health issues related to the kidney (Landrove-Rodriguez et al., 2018). Cuba has a known baseline on risk factors, and hypertension and tobacco consumption are the main factors related to NCDs mortality.
The economic, social, and health progress of Cuba over the years has contributed to a well-equipped public health system in Cuba that has guaranteed Universal health coverage to the Cuban citizens. This has led to a decrease in the number of diseases associated with communicable diseases and perinatal conditions and a predominance of NCDs, leading to gradual and accelerated aging of the Cuban population. The NCDs have evolved from time to time, causing increased risk factors in Cuba. In 2015, years of potential life lost in groups aged 1 to 74 years were 18.5 per 1 000 populations from malignant tumors, 15.5 from cardiovascular disease, 1.8 from chronic lower respiratory disease, and 1.4 from diabetes mellitus (Landrove-Rodriguez et al., 2018). In 2016, 64.1% of all deaths were attributed to cardiovascular disease, malignant tumors, chronic lower respiratory disease and diabetes mellitus.
This figure rose to 68.0% in 2017. That same year, 32.5% of Cuba’s deaths were premature (aged 30 to 69 years). Of these, 68.7% were due to the four NCDs mentioned: malignant tumors and cardiovascular disease represented 32.9% and 29.5% of premature deaths, respectively, while chronic lower respiratory disease and diabetes mellitus accounted for 3.7% and 2.6%, respectively. Cardiovascular diseases pose the biggest threat in non-communicable diseases, followed by malignant tumors or cancer, followed by respiratory diseases and, finally, diabetes mellitus, which poses a lower mortality risk. There exist fewer dangers of diseases that are communicable in Cuba. The most common non-communicable diseases include hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. Other diseases such as typhoid are also common in Cuba due to the contamination of the water of food. The CDC recommends that the typhoid vaccine be administered to most travelers. For hepatitis A, it is also administered to unvaccinated travelers once a year (Landrove-Rodriguez et al., 2018). The case is also the same for hepatitis, where unvaccinated foreigners of all ages are vaccinated in Cuba. Infants from 6 to 11 months are also vaccinated against hepatitis A.
Mortality in Cuba is determined by four major health problems: cardiovascular disease, malignant tumors, chronic lower respiratory disease and diabetes mellitus. Together, these conditions are responsible for 68.0% of deaths. Deaths that occur in communicable diseases do not pose much threat as the cases that involve communicable diseases.
References
Landrove-Rodriguez, O., Morejón-Giraldoni, A., Venero-Fernández, S., Suarez-Medina, R., Almaguer-López, M., Pallarols-Mariño, E., … & Ordunez, P. (2018). Non-communicable diseases: risk factors and actions for their prevention and control in CubaDoenças não transmissíveis: fatores de risco e ações para sua prevenção e controle em Cuba. Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica= Pan American Journal of Public Health, 42, e23-e23.
References