The title, Best Health System in the World, referring to Cuba may sound chovinist and exagerated coming from a local, but used by the British media, the true dimension is clearly understood.
On the issue of how Britain delivers essential services, Newsnight of the BBC invited guest reporters to argue the case for the most interesting, innovative and thought provoking examples of public service provision in the world.
John Harris of the Guardian travelled to Cuba to examine its health system, only to discover that the country has achieved extremely impressive healthcare indicators, primarily by focusing on prevention and establishing doctor and nurse teams at the heart of the local community.
He found that even if the person has a clean bill of health, the local physician will still pay the person a visit once a year to check on your lifestyle and home environment.
As John Harris reported, Cuban leader Fidel Castro is recovering after illness forced him to temporarily delegate his government and party responsibilities. "He is lucky to be able to count upon some of the best healthcare in the world", said the journalist.
As for education, the Newsnight highlighted Qatar and its innovative system. John Harris could have also evaluated the island for that public service, as it has been awarded by UNESCO for its method of teaching illiterates.
The method Yes, I can, currently used in dozens of countries from Central America to New Zealand, using local teachers, in their national languages through 65 classes of 30-minute duration each has already taught 1.9 million people to read and write in 15 countries and is now underway for 2.3 million in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific, is due to expand to five more nations.
The other public services reviewed by Newsnight were prisons and transport. The places highlighted were Denmark and Portland, Maine in the United States, respectively.
Source: Prensa Latina
