London Metropolitan University Research Institutes
 

Imti Choonara 11/11/08

Child Health in Cuba

Professor Imti Choonara

Tuesday 11 November, 2008

On the 11th November, 2008 Professor Imti Choonara an expert paeiatrician fomr Nottingham Univerisity delivered a talk on Child care in Cuba at the IISC.
More than 30 people attended the talk.
Preofessor Choonara explained how Cuba has excellent healthcare and, in particular, the health of children is a major strength.
He used data from the World Health Organization and UNICEF to highlight that mortality rates for children of all ages in Cuba are significantly lower than one would anticipate. Mortality rates for infants and children under 5 years are lower in Cuba than the USA.

He then explained how Cuba has managed to provide excellent care for its children by focusing on primary healthcare and prevention (extensive immunisation).
A key feature of its healthcare system is that it is free of charge and publicly funded and this has helped Cuba to achieve excellent healthcare at a low cost.
This seminar examined the Cuba system of child health care and explained how both developing and developed countries could learn a lot from it. Cuba illustrates what can be achieved if a government decides to make child health a priority.


Imti Choonara is a Professor in Child Health at the University of Nottingham and an Honorary Consultant Paediatrician at Derbyshire Children's Hospital. His major interest is in the scientific study of medicines in children (paediatric clinical pharmacology). He has a particular interest in drug toxicity and clinical trials of medicines in children.

He is currently Secretary-General of the European Society for Developmental, Perinatal and Paediatric Pharmacology and is Editor of the journal Paediatric and Perinatal Drug Therapy. He has been heavily involved in developing a training programme for doctors in paediatric clinical pharmacology and for several years has been Chairman of the Specialty Training Committee of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in this area. He is currently involved in training several health professionals from developing countries who will return and try to improve drug therapy for children in their respective countries.

As well as having an interest in medicines in children, he is also interested in different aspects of child health. He has published research on child pedestrian injuries, viewpoints of children on clinical trials and has had a longstanding interest in both pain and sedation in children. For the last three years, he has been organising an annual workshop on Child Health in Cuba in conjunction with doctors in Camaguey. This collaboration has resulted in several publications about Cuba.






 

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