Residents of the Oakland flats - predominantly low-income African Americans and Latinos - can expect to die from heart disease, diabetes, cancer and stroke, on average, more than a decade before residents living in the Oakland hills. This is according to a report by the Alameda County Department of Public Health that looks at health inequities associated with poverty, education, housing and neighborhood conditions where a person lives.

To address these concerns, a student health brigade made up of U.S. students from Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine is addressing these health disparities in Oakland by sharing the Cuban health care model.

Several members of the brigade who call Oakland their hometown returned to the East Bay this summer to do community health outreach and partner with health providers serving low-income communities of color. Second-year student Maiti Rodriguez, who was born and raised in Oakland, chose Cuba for its alternative medical education and full scholarship program.

“The love for culture and music in Cuba and love for medicine and humanity … was a perfect combination for me,” said Maiti, who hails from a family of musicians.

Last year, Oakland resident Pasha Jackson helped organize the first health brigade to work with underserved populations in the U.S. Growing up poor, Pasha noticed that people in his community were depressed and self-medicating, they lacked education and saw a lot of violence. These conditions along with barriers to medical care,  are major factors associated with poor health. 

Pasha says Cuba’s tiered universal healthcare system of neighborhood doctors, clinics and hospitals can offer a model for poor communities like Oakland.

“They do a ton of prevention, a ton of promotion," she said. "You’ll see them put all their resources in prenatal maternal health because they share the logical theory that healthy babies make healthy children and make healthy adults. So by the time you have to use Cuba’s technology, by the time you need the seriously costly procedures, it’s a minority of the population.”

“We have a very uncoordinated health care system,” said Dr. Fumi Suzuki, a physician at Asian Health Services. “A lot of different communities are scared to access health care because of either cost or immigration documentation. ” 

Suzuki said that poor people suffer more often from infectious diseases, injuries and illnesses like childhood asthma and high blood pressure from lack of access to nutritious food.

Asian Health Services was one of they many community clinics that health brigade members partnered with in Oakland. Suzuki said he believes U.S. medical students from Cuba can bring language skills to serve Latino immigrants, the dedication to provide quality care and a good preventative health model for underserved populations.

“I’m just very glad that there is an avenue for bright young people who want to become doctors without going into a huge amount of debt or being deterred from even pursuing that avenue because of the economics of the situation," Suzuki said. "I’m hoping we can expand the program by getting the knowledge to more high school and college students."

For more information on the Student Health Brigade visit its website here.