ABSTRACT
In 1999, the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, Cuba, was established as an international medical school, recognised by both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Educational Commission of Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina's (ELAM's) bold mission is to increase the number of healthcare providers in underserved communities globally by targeting and training aspiring students from communities in need whom studies suggest are more likely to remain in practice among the underserved. The student body at ELAM is actively recruited from poor, remote, marginalised and Indigenous populations, reflecting graduates from 84 countries primarily from South and Central America between 2005 and 2015. Other countries represented include the United States, and nations from African and Asian countries with bilateral agreements with Cuba. The founding of ELAM was preceded by decades of Cuban foreign aid delegations, sending doctors to communities in South and Central America devastated by natural disasters such as hurricanes.
