CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Guaranteeing existence: Social security and assistance

Social security in Cuba is a right with that makes no distinction based on race, sex, religious faith, or political ideology of the person.

Until 1959 the overwhelming majority of the Cuban people lived in a precarious situation, with a total lack of social protection or access to health, education, pension and retirement services.

The social insurance system in 1958 was in dire straits, their funds were in deficit because of the corruption and thieving of the ruling regime. The financial situation of most of the insurance funds was depressing. Social assistance was limited to the efforts of private charity institutions and some state institutions which only benefited a small strata of the population, mostly in Havana.

From 1959 on the Revolutionary state began to transform social insurance, designing a package of measures whose immediate aims included financial help to existing institutions in order to guarantee they met their obligations.

Today social security is a comprehensive system which includes security at work, on the job, of salaries and wages, in working conditions and training, and of nutrition, physical activity, individual development and the active participation of all citizens, including senior citizens. The main indication of this is the coverage given to 100% of the workers, their families and the population who need assistance.

Social Security covers the risks of illness and common accidents, occupational accidents, occupational disease, maternity, disability, old age and death. Social assistance provides protection to families and individuals in need in the form of subsidies. The benefits are given in money, service and kind.

In addition to the aforementioned benefits there are also social programmes for vulnerable groups of the population such as the differently abled, elderly people living alone and others and the aim of these programmes is to meet the social and economic needs these people have.

The Cuban Social Security System protects 1,438,295 people through Social Security and 331, 681 through Social Assistance; 2,739 million pesos was allotted from the State expenditure budget to the system in 2004 to cover its costs.

More than 15,000 social workers throughout the country are employed in this noble task. Their responsibility is to look after elderly people living alone, differently abled people, etc.

1. Care for elderly people

Cuba is not exempt from the demographic process of an aging population which is affecting the world. The total Cuban population is more than 11.2 million. It is one of the oldest populations in Latin America having more than one and a half million inhabitants over the age of 60, a figure destined to increase in the coming years. It is expected that the number of people in Cuba over 60 will increase to two and half million by the year 2005, that is, 25% of the population.

Health care for the elderly in Cuba complies with the basic principles of universality, being free of charge and accessibility.

The Ministry of Health runs the Programme of Care for the Elderly which work with the Multidisciplinary Gerontological Care Teams which is a component of the Family Doctor Programme. Similarly the geriatrics and gerontology speciality was started and a process of geriatrization of all the hospital and community based services is underway.

2. Care for the disabled

The Cuban government guarantees the human rights of those who are otherly abled based on the principle that every one has the same rights.

In Cuba, from 1959 on, concrete measure began to be implemented for disabled. More recently (1995) the Action Plan for Care for Disabled Persons was initiated, to ensure more coordination in matters concerning, employment, accessibility, health, education, training and use of information and communication technologies.

Cuba has developed new social services, such as the Home Care Worker, the Food Service and grants to mothers of children with severe disability, the use of computers and other audio-visual programmes, the progressive elimination of barriers to access, the programme for technical prosthetic aid, the system of close caption in the most important television programmes, (the Braille system in libraries and specialised finger telephone services for those who are deaf and blind, etc.

In 2002 the Cuba government carried out a nationwide clinical, psychological pedagogic and social survey of the disabled which allowed us to know more about their living conditions and health status, to assess the policies in place up to that time and to get new programmes and studies underway with the aim of improving the quality of life and full social integration of these Cubans.

There is an employment programme for the disabled (PROEMDIS), which has made it easier to integrate them into social life. Currently there is a fast track programme underway to find work for 75,113 disabled persons, identified in the genetic study we carried out, who are interested in and able to work.

As for new legislation, we should mention the 2003 Decree Law No. 234 dealing with maternity leave for female workers. This law increases the scope of the rights and benefits of this maternity leave which has been extended until the child reaches the age of three in the case of mothers with disabled children; the mother has the right to return to her job when her leave expires.

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