Sociocultural interactions of Cuban doctors participating in the More Doctors Program in Brazil

ABSTRACT

[Foreword] This book focuses on a different and underexplored attribute of the More Doctors Program by surveying doctors in the feld with the purpose of identifying important answers regarding the sociocultural interactions of Cuban doctors recruited by the program and of producing knowledge, while also making improvements in the participation, still limited, of foreign doctors in the primary care services offered by SUS. It proposes to induce perceptions, memories, and possible explanations to anyone who is somehow associated with the Program’s development, especially those committed to universal health care and primary assistance as the only paths to an effective health system. For an organization such as PAHO/WHO, whose institutional mission is to articulate collaborative strategic efforts among Member States, one of our responsibilities is to mobilize Cuban doctors and create all the necessary conditions for their work in Brazil. In addition, we also need to attempt to understand the sociocultural interactions that have resulted from their professional practice. This, to all of us, constitutes a duty, as it consciously allows us to repay the trust of the Brazilian and Cuban governments. To the approximately 18 thousand Cuban doctors who currently work or have worked in Brazil, the present publication could mean “…a new look at the Brazil we don’t see in soap operas….” They will certainly understand what we mean by that. This expression was used in several interviews conducted throughout the present research.