MEDICC Rev. 2019 Jan;21(1):6-9. doi: 10.37757/MR2019.V21.N1.2.
The 1980s were a watershed for Cuban research in medicine and health: significant financing and material resources buttressed a strategy to improve population health through enhanced biopharmaceutical innovation and clinical best practices applied to Cuba's universal public health system. Redirecting research priorities and providing substantial public funding to tackle the top population health problems was a radical idea at the time, especially for a developing country like Cuba. Doing so has become a hallmark of Cuba's scientific achievements and approach ever since. Among the institutions exemplifying this strategy is the Pedro Kourí Tropical Medicine Institute (IPK). Founded in 1937 with a research mission dedicated to parasitology and transmission of known tropical diseases, it wasn't until the late Dr Gustavo Kourí Flores was appointed director in 1979 that IPK's core objectives and facilities were expanded to include a comprehensive teaching component, a state-of-the-art clinical hospital to treat tropical and other communicable diseases, and an international collaboration strategy to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer.
20 世纪 80 年代是古巴医学和健康研究的分水岭:大量的资金和物质资源支持了一项战略,通过加强生物制药创新和将临床最佳实践应用于古巴的全民公共卫生系统来改善人口健康。当时,将研究重点转移并提供大量公共资金来解决主要的人口健康问题是一个激进的想法,尤其是对于古巴这样的发展中国家。从那时起,这就成为了古巴科学成就和方法的一个显著标志。体现这一战略的机构之一是佩德罗·库伊里热带医学研究所(IPK)。该研究所成立于 1937 年,其研究任务专门针对寄生虫学和已知热带疾病的传播,直到 1979 年古斯塔沃·库伊里·弗洛雷斯博士被任命为所长,该研究所的核心目标和设施才得以扩大,包括一个全面的教学组成部分、一个拥有最先进技术的临床医院,用于治疗热带病和其他传染病,以及一个国际合作战略,以促进知识和技术的转移。