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How the internet could help Cuba more in health research

BMJ 2004; 328 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.328.7449.1209 (Published 13 May 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;328:1209
  1. Rodolfo J Stusser (stusser@infomed.sld.cu), general physician and biostatistician researcher,
  2. Robert L Kriel, professor,
  3. Richard A Dickey, clinical assistant professor,
  4. Linda E Krach, clinical assistant professor
  1. primary care research unit, Vedado Educational Polyclinic, Havana, Cuba
  2. departments of neurology, paediatrics, and pharmacy practice, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
  3. department of endocrinology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
  4. department of physical medicine and rehabilitation, University of Complore

    Emigration of talented professionals from resource poor to resource rich countries is a serious and increasing problem. We think that the internet could be used to address some of the root causes of this emigration, substituting collaboration between countries for competition.

    Our ideas arose from a detailed review of Cuba's disappointing history of research collaboration with other countries, especially the United States. While Cuba modelled its educational, scientific, and technological systems on those of the United States and embarked on research programmes of US relevance, since 1959 contact between Cuban and US professionals and students has been limited, owing to travel restrictions and limited funds.

    Despite these handicaps, Cuban professionals still assimilated overseas knowledge. Cuba has developed a substantial biomedical network …

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