Lessons from Building a Sustainable Healthcare Exchange between the Netherlands and Cuba.

Over the past ten years, seven Dutch Universities have built a sustainable exchange with seven institutes in Cuban healthcare. The exchange was initiated by the Leiden University Medical Centre and the University of Medical Sciences of Havana. Cooperation with Cuba was chosen as Cuba has excellent primary healthcare and has a strong focus on prevention and public health. These were considered important due to the major contribution of non-communicable diseases to morbidity and mortality in the Netherlands. Exchanges have occurred with Dutch health professionals and students visiting Cuban healthcare institutions and Cuban postgraduate students studying in the Netherlands. There has been an increased awareness of the importance of public health and prevention in Dutch professional organizations following the exchange. The exchange has also helped to break the scientific and economic US blockade of Cuba and resulted in joint publications. In this review we described the process, key aspects, results and lessons learned in this process. Collaboration between Cuba (a middle income) and the Netherlands (a high-income country) is possible.

Importancia de la perspectiva afectiva e intercultural en la comunicación profesional en tiempos de crisis / The importance of the affective and intercultural perspective of communication in times of crisis

Introducción: La comunicación de los profesionales y demás personas vinculadas a la salud con los ciudadanos es de vital importancia, particularmente en tiempos de crisis sanitarias y/o epidemiológicas, para desarrollar con efectividad las actividades de promoción y prevención de salud, así como para elevar la percepción de riesgo. Objetivo: Explicar la importancia de las perspectivas afectiva e intercultural en la comunicación de los profesionales de la salud ante situaciones de contingencia epidemiológica. Materiales y Métodos: Se utilizaron fundamentalmente el estudio documental a partir del análisis de la literatura científica sobre el tema y otros procedimientos de la investigación cualitativa como las narraciones de vivencias y la reflexión introspectiva de los autores. Desarrollo: Se exploran conceptos básicos relacionados con la comunicación en salud según se plantea en documentos de la Organización Mundial de la Salud y la literatura científica sobre el tema. También se caracteriza la comunicación afectiva e intercultural, en lengua materna y/o extranjera, que pondera el acompañamiento al ser humano en el proceso de información durante crisis sanitarias para desempeñarse de forma más efectiva en función de la actividad clínica, la promoción y la prevención de salud en el país o en contextos internacionales. Conclusiones: Se evidencia la necesidad de la comunicación afectiva, que brinde una información veraz clara, acompañada de solidaridad, optimismo y fe en la recuperación, así como de una sensibilidad intercultural que favorezca la comprensión de determinadas actitudes y prácticas no comunes y permita un mejor desempeño profesional(AU)

Introduction: The communication among professionals and those related to healthcare with the population is vital, especially during sanitary and epidemiological crises, aimed to develop effectively health promotion and prevention activities and help to increase the people´s risk perception. Objective: To explain the importance of the affective and intercultural perspective of the health professionals' communication when facing epidemiological contingency or hazard situations. Materials and methods: Literature review about the topic and other qualitative procedures such as life stories and the authors´ introspective reflection. Development: Basic concepts related to communication in the health field were explored as stated in the World Health Organization documents and the scientific literature about the topic. Besides, the authors explored the affective and intercultural communication issue, either in the mother tongue and in a foreign language which highly praise the accompaniment of the human being in the information process during health crises to lead them to behave effectively to achieve the goals of the clinical activity and the health promotion and prevention measures in the country or overseas. Conclusions: The evidence for the need of affective communication is shown. This kind of communication must be true and clear, showing principles such as solidarity, and traits of optimism and faith in the recovery and there should also be some intercultural awareness to favor the understanding of uncommon attitudes and practices for a better professional performance when working overseas(AU)