Cuba--innovation through synergy

Cuba's outstanding achievements in health biotechnology are a source of inspiration for the developing world. They are all the more impressive considering that the island is a small, relatively poor country that has suffered serious economic difficulties for more than a decade. These economic problems arose in the wake of the Soviet Union's disintegration and the political changes in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, resulting in the collapse of Cuba's export markets, and the imposition since 1961 of a US trade embargo against Cuba, which has limited opportunities for the country's agriculturally based economy. Despite these difficulties, Cuba's strong and continued emphasis on science since shortly after the 1959 revolution has resulted in a highly developed health biotechnology sector.