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The black slaves who fled and settled in remote places in Cuba learned to use herbs and developed remedies to alleviate their diseases that have been transmitted through oral or written tradition and today the use of plants for healing purposes is an important part of the national culture. Especially outside of Havana, I remember that before 1959 the families had medicinal plant postures in the patios of the houses and regularly drank herbal teas to maintain their health, hence the name of the new company La Botica del Cimarron (pharmacy of the slave leaked out)
Within this oral knowledge, transmitted in each generation, what comes from the Cuban aborigines and Chinese emigration is mixed with what came from Africa and much influence from Haiti and French medicine.
“One of the challenges - says Ana Elena - is to achieve the sustainability of the products. We have contracts with Urban Agriculture and a farm located in La Sierrita, an ideal place for growing these varieties due to the characteristics of the soil and natural fertilization.
"I collected a lot of information about the stage of maroonage in this region (medical practice among groups of black slaves who escaped in remote places), I looked for all the Unesco regulations on the use of medicinal plants as intangible heritage, I prepared all the technical sheets of the formulations. We have added science, technology and innovation to tradition”.
Of course, what drives Cuba most now to resume the habit of resorting to traditional and natural medicine remedies is the absence, in many cases prolonged, of industrial medicines or allopathies in pharmacies throughout the island due to the fact that, fundamentally, due to Dozens of US embargo regulations prevent the Cuban Ministry of Public Health from financing and credits in international banks for the purchase of reagents, high-tech pharmaceutical equipment, raw materials and medicines.
Based on:
Ana Elena y su botica Remedios del Cimarrón (+fotos) – Escambray
The US embargo on Cuba for more than 60 years and which is causing intense debates and comments in the United States has not only caused dozens of medicines to not exist in allopathic pharmacies but is also affecting the parallel network of natural and traditional medicine of the Ministry of Public Health of Cuba because many essential reagents and process technologies cannot be imported to the island.
Natural medicines are sold to the population in many cases with a prescription but it is difficult for the patient to acquire them because the productions are very low and sporadic due to low technologies and precariousness in imported reagents.
The situation is critical because doctors have been forced to replace non-existent allopathic medicines in pharmacies with alternative medicine treatments that are also becoming difficult. Even acupuncture needles are difficult at hospital level and electrodes in Biomagnetic field treatment. (BioStim Pre-Wired Electrodes Biomedical)
Gualterio Nunez Estrada, former science tematic writer, Universidad de Oriente, Cuba.
This is the main reason way OBAMACARE is not working as it was designed by former President Obama as community services that can afford everybody, even low-income families.
"A workforce shortage has made it difficult to meet the overwhelming demand for mental health and substance use treatment. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) estimated the shortage of mental health professionals was nearly 8,000 in 2022, up from 2,593 in 2013. That has left more than 158 million people without access to care, up from 94.8 million a decade ago, according to HRSA."
La escasez de mano de obra ha dificultado satisfacer la abrumadora demanda de tratamiento de salud mental y uso de sustancias. El Wall Street Journal informó recientemente que la Administración de Recursos y Servicios de Salud (HRSA) estimó que la escasez de profesionales de salud mental fue de casi 8,000 en 2022, frente a 2,593 en 2013. Eso ha dejado a más de 158 millones de personas sin acceso a la atención, frente a los 94,8 millones de hace una década, según HRSA.
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