Barrio Adentro

Revolutionary Doctors, a new book published by Monthly Review Press, gives readers a first-hand account of Venezuela’s innovative and inspiring program of community health care, designed to serve—and largely carried out by—the poor themselves. Drawing on long-term participant observations as well as in-depth research, author Steve Brouwer tells the story of Venezuela’s Integral Community Medicine program, in which doctor-teachers move into the countryside and poor urban areas to recruit and train doctors from among peasants and workers. 

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In a move that will see yet greater funding applied to essential public services, the Venezuelan government announced a series of initiatives last week intended to strengthen the Caribbean nation’s growing health care infrastructure and expand access to residents in the state of Aragua.

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The Integral Diagnostic Centre (CDI) Dr. Salvador Allende in Chuao, Caracas, is just one of over 400 around the country. The centres, which provide free healthcare to all citizens and non citizens, is a result of an agreement between Venezuela and Cuba.

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The first batch of recently released secret and confidencial US State Department documents obtained by Wikileaks include over a dozen dispatches from the US Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, evidencing espionage against the Chavez administration, use of opposition media and politicians as informants and insulting remarks about the country.

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Government sources report that the “Smile Mission” has provided over 96,000 adults with dental care, including 34,600 with dentures, since the creation of the mission in 2006.

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To travel around Venezuela and not run into a group of Cuban medical doctors is like going to Africa and not finding a lion, or at least not seeing the savanna.

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Venezuela will see an increase in health spending this year and expand its immunization program, while statistics also highlight the country’s decreasing poverty and inequality.

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In June, the People Before Profit Community Healthcare Project visited Venezuela in order to assess the state of its healthcare system. Netfa Freeman is an organizer with the organization, and he discusses here what the delegation saw in Venezuela.

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During his weekly television show "Hello President" on Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez inaugurated three new three new Integral Diagnostic Centres as part of a plan to relaunch the government's healthcare program Mission Barrio Adentro.

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In Venezuela, not only is health care a right; it is recognized as essential for true participatory democracy.

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