Lung cancer is one of the most common type of cancer with an approximate 1.59 million cases diagnosed in 2012 worldwide, and is by far one of the leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide.

Cimavax-EGF is the first worldwide registered therapeutic vaccine, developed at the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM) in Havana, Cuba, is a type of immunotherapy that harnesses the body’s immune system to fight lung cancer. CIMAvax-EGF blocks a type of protein — epidermal growth factor (EGF) — that cancer cells need to grow.

More than 5,000 lung cancer patients have been treated with this unique immunotherapy, and improved overall survival and quality of life for patients receiving CIMAvax.

Through revolutionary socialism, Cuba has one of the best health systems in the world, with more impressive health indicators than those of the US and many other developed countries. Cuba has one of the highest ratios of doctors in the world.

On the other hand, it is a shocking double standard that US companies are not allowed to export essential life saving medicine to a critically ill Cuban child if they are the child of a member of the Cuban Communist party. According to the Helms-Burton Act, which was signed into law by former President Bill Clinton, the end user of using the medicine, manufacturing in US, cannot be a member of the Cuban Communist Party. But it has found ways to continue improving its universal healthcare for the Cuban population

Cuba’s health care achievements directly reflect the decisions of Fidel Castro, the former President of Cuba and a revolutionary, who personally prioritized two services : education and health care. Cuba spends about 10 percent of its GDP on health care. All the health care services, funded by the state, and are free for the citizens of Cuba. If there is one thing for which Cuba has received praise over the years, it is the Communist government’s state-run healthcare system.