Barrio Adentro Sport: Cubans help increase health with community exercise

At 7am every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, a Cuban with the Mission Barrio Adentro Sports sets himself up in a nearby plaza to give an exercise class to any of those who'd like to attend. In the afternoons, another Cuban runs dance-exercise classes in the park, something that has become quite popular. He also often facilitates chess games at our community events.

In other areas the Cubans with the sports mission have run sports and recreation festivals, chess classes and tornaments, and they also conduct physical rehabilitation in the hospitals, and help ill people who are bedridden and with physical therapy.

The health-sports program aims to encourage preventative health practices, organised through the communities and the barrio adentro medical centres. It was created in 2003.

"Sport is a way for the individual human to be incorporated into the collective," said Chavez in 2008 when the government re-launched the program.

See as: smaller image(s) | gallery

Published on Mar 28th 2012 at 11.52am