by Lisa Cisneros

If information is power then Cuba could use a boost. Richard Quint, UCSF clinical professor of Pediatrics, is calling upon the campus community to donate went health science journals to their colleagues in Cuba. Volunteering the past live years for the International Action Center (IAC), an organization based in San Francisco that orchestrates a number of humanitarian activities around the globe, Quint is working to provide Cuba with the latest information possible to advance knowledge and health care on the island.

After visiting Cuba several times over the past 20 years, Quint became aware of the critical need for updated information. "It is clear that they could not buy medical literature because of the embargo and their current economic situation," Quint explains.

Cubans have also requested various journals in the Clinics of North America series, he says.

While the US embargo with Cuba do not prohibit forwarding medical journals to Cuba, Quint says the nonprofit IAC has been hard-pressed to finance delivery across the US continent and then on to Cuba. On several occasions, the route has been long and circuitous.

"By and large they have every specialty and sub-specialty we have and they're depending on people to &end them journals or buy subscriptions," Quint says. "This need is particularly desperate outside Havana in the rural provinces. If we had the economic resources ourselves we would just pay for them and send them"

But, according to the Cuban Ministry of Health, a subscription to the New England Journal of Medicine alone would cost more than $1,000 a year, plus shipping and handling fees.

While the digital age has opened up new opportunities for sharing information, Cubans typically have a difficult time accessing the Internet because their computer systems are not quite up to speed. "It's kind of like taking a hiking trail to get on the freeway," Quint explains- "They simply don't have economic resources to get rapid access to the Internet.''

So far, Quint says the IAC has sent four shipments, each with three to four tons of journals, thanks to generous support from the UCSF library Children's Hospital in Oakland and Stanford University among other institutions "We collected over 180 titles the last time." says Quint, who's looking to send another shipment by year's end.

Packages first go to a central receiving point. a library for medical and scientific infomation in Havana, and then are distributed to three main locations on the island.

Since venturing to Cuba for the first time as part of a public health study tour in 1978, Quint has been very impressed with how its health system is organized and delivered. Although a relatively poor country that lacks sufficient food and medicines, Cuba has the lowest infant mortality rate and the highest immunization rate in Latin America, Quint says.

"Everybody is guaranteed access to a physician close to their home," he says of Cuba's universal health care coverage. "In spite of the organization of the health system and these generally good health indicators, though, people need to know that the health of the people is suffering because of the embargo and their inability to got medicines and food," Quint says. To contribute journals, make donations or got more information about the effort, call Dr. Quint at

(415) 476-3799 or

email rquint@peds.ucsf.edu

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Project USA/Cuba InfoMed