Cuba & ICTs: Real Crisis Leads to Virtual Innovation

The only sustainable way to avail ourselves of opportunities provided by information and communications technologies (ICTs) for health is when they're folded into a clear, specific political commitment to improve health systems; there are no magic recipes or technologies. Cuba's achievements in using ICTs for health are the result of a social and political process based on universal, equitable health services and education. Together these explain the paradox of how a country in severe economic crisis managed to create a nationwide network providing access to health information and medical knowledge, so that today, Cuba is making strategic use of the Internet and international networks.