• Submitted by: lena campos
• Science and Technology
• 02 / 01 / 2013

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MEDICC Review’s special issue, “Cuba Tackles Diabetes”, contributes to the global body of evidence for tackling this epidemic chronic disease. Cuba has the lowest diabetes mortality rate in the Americas.

Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC) today published a special MEDICC Review issue: Cuba Tackles Diabetes. The only English-language journal focusing on Cuban health and medicine, the MEDICC Review January issue features original research, features, and commentary from leading Cuban experts on public health strategies, challenges and novel Cuban therapies for this chronic condition.

Diabetes afflicts an estimated 366 million people worldwide, a majority from developing countries or disadvantaged population groups in developed nations. An integrated, national strategy is one reason for low diabetes mortality in Cuba—the lowest in the Americas, but prevalence continues to double every ten years, reaching some 510,000 patients last year.

“Diabetes caused 4.6 million deaths worldwide in 2011,” said C. William Keck MD MPH FACPM, Editor-in-Chief of MEDICC Review. “There is an urgent need to share diabetes research between countries and hemispheres, North-South, to find and implement the best prevention, management and effective new approaches—such as Cuba’s novel diabetic foot therapy. Our special issue is adding to that body of knowledge.”

“Cuba Tackles Diabetes” includes these articles:

Heberprot-P: A Novel Product for Treating Advanced Diabetic Foot Ulcer: registered in Cuba and 15 other countries, this innovative product has treated more than 100,000 patients with advanced diabetic foot ulcers.

Evidence of Association between Type 1 Diabetes and Exposure to Enterovirus in Cuban Children and Adolescents : a discussion of the hygiene hypothesis of type 1 diabetes

Usefulness of Nuclear Cardiology Techniques for Silent Ischemia Detection in Diabetics: an algorithm to optimize use of costly nuclear cardiology to detect silent ischemia

Oxidative Stress and Birth Defects in Infants of Women with Pregestational Diabetes: the importance of comprehensive care of diabetic mothers to reduce birth defects

MEDICC Review is an open-access peer-reviewed journal. Full-text articles of current and past issues may be freely viewed and downloaded at medicc.org/mediccreview/

Since 1997, MEDICC’s mission has been to support education and development of human resources in health committed to equitable access and quality care. Through 2004, 118 US medical and public health schools offered academic credit to 1,500 of their students for MEDICC-organized elective courses in Cuba. MEDICC also produced the feature length film ¡Salud! and publishes the MEDLINE-indexed MEDICC Review, the only peer-reviewed journal on Cuban health and medicine. MEDICC supports research in Cuba by US health professionals, and its Community Partnerships for Health Equity are improving health care and access in South Los Angeles and Oakland, California, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. See: medicc.org

Source: SFgate.com