[Cuba: the collapse of a healthcare system. An appeal to the medical community and international institutions.].

Historically a model of excellence and international cooperation, the Cuban healthcare system is now in a state of documented collapse. With a density of 8.4 doctors per thousand inhabitants, the island is facing an unprecedented crisis: survival rates for childhood cancers have fallen from 80% to 65%, and nearly 100,000 people are on surgical waiting lists due to shortages of medicines, oxygen and anaesthetics. The structural causes lie in the tightening of the embargo, the effects of the pandemic and the recent cut-off of Venezuelan energy supplies, which is forcing hospitals to endure power cuts of up to twenty hours a day. The crisis also threatens public biotechnology innovation, a pillar of regional health sovereignty. The appeal urges the global medical community to break the silence, calling for the immediate suspension of sanctions on essential goods, the establishment of humanitarian corridors and the recognition of restrictions on care as a violation of fundamental human rights.