Public Story
Bloodroot
Published in National Geographic
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/cubans-turn-to-natural-remedies-in-midst-of-prescription-drugs-shortage
With a record of COVID cases, collapsed hospitals and a shortage of medicines, Cuba is going through a complex health situation. Since 2020, 85% of the basic medicines of national production are in shortage. In addition, the US blockade and the traveling restrictions make the imported medicine scarce. The few chemical medicines available in the country are found at exorbitant prices on the black market. Many Cubans find alternatives in traditional healing.
In 1961, the disappearance of ancestral medical practices was predicted as a consequence of the socioeconomic changes brought about by the Cuban Revolution. Nevertheless, they never extinguished completely. Today, likewise happened during the economic crisis of the early '90s, when natural medicine grew extensively under Castro's motto, "green medicine is not a solution to poverty but an alternative to wealth", the population is now seeking a solution in green medicine. On the other hand, most Cubans have a deeply rooted religious and popular tradition in the use of medicinal plants. Some people plant them in their yards, others go seek them into the nature, while others acquire them from herbalists.
In Old Havana neighborhood, Julio runs a space that became the reference point for many people looking for green medicine. Julio is a traditional healer whose knowledge dates back to his great-great-grandmother. One of Julio´s patient, Gloria, comes to buy herbs for his son who is in prison. It is not the first time that he goes through kidney stones nor the first time he takes Julio´s preparations to heal. “There is no medicine in the pharmacy, what am I supposed to do? luckily we have Julio ”, says Gloria.
121