ABSTRACT
Cuba’s response to the epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection merits attention for many reasons. The Cuban program and the Cuban HIV epidemic must be studied within the socioeconomic, political, cultural, and ethical context of Cuban society. Cuba is quite different from other socialist countries in culture and history, and from other Latin American countries in its political, ideological, and economic systems. A revolution overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. In 1961 the government officially declared Cuba a socialist state. The population is well organized in each community. The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) provided access to sanatoria, patients, physicians, and other health professionals working with HIV antibody-positive individuals, as well as epidemiologic and surveillance data on HIV infection. A better measure is the incidence rate of seropositivity. HIV infection in Cuba is largely a male heterosexual disease.
