The Pacific School of MedicineA 'Pacific school' in the Caribbean!• Cuban medical scholarships (free tuition and

board) for the SW Pacific (up to 400 places) and Timor Leste (up to 1,000 places)

• Enrolments 2009: Timor Leste (165 in Timor, 700 in Cuba), Solomon Islands (50), Kiribati (20), Vanuatu (17), Tuvalu (10), Nauru (9) -offers made to PNG and Fiji

• Most foreign students in Cuba are from Latin America (e.g. Bolivia, Guatemala), but also parts of Africa (e.g. Western Sahara, South Africa) Asia and even the USA.

• US students trained in Cuba are now working as doctors in the USA

YouTube interviews with students in Cubahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIsn6_7vefchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DFuzvcFdXI

Why does Cuba do it?• Cuba is the world leader in both solidarity

and health training, they believe in this.• There is a global shortage of health workers;

privatised systems always deprive poor and rural communities of doctors.

• Cuba trains doctors and other health workers with a public service ethos, not for money making businesses.

More information:MEDICC site:http://www.medicc.org/ns/index.phpArticle on the Cuba-Timor Leste program:http://www.cubastudiesjournal.org/issue-2/international-

relations/solidarity-aid-the-cuba-timor-leste-health-programme.cfm

US medical students' SW Exchange site:http://saludswexchange.wordpress.com/

Timorese students

US students