快播视频 health equity and enact solidarity as Cuba
lives these crushing times, staring down the U.S. blockade.
This summer FLICS course is usually taught in Holguin Cuba, but due to recent U.S. aggressions, the course has been reimagined to take place at the Keele campus while retaining many of the experiential components of the course including: field trips, meetings with Cuban diaspora, expert lectures from Cuban health professionals, salsa classes, and supporting a donation drive to Cuba!
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Explain the fundamentals of the Cuban primary care system, roosted in their social policies and principles of universalism and health equity
- Apply innovative research methodologies to investigate a current or emerging issue in a specific area within the Cuban health care system
- Understand the context and affects of recent geopolitics and further consider the links between Canada and Cuba
- Engage in ongoing reflection on their own learning in a scholarly community
- Communicate strengths and challenges of this immersive learning experience using arts based methods
Experience Cuba:
Enacting the Human Right to Health
& Health Equity
Course Code: HH/HLST 4170 3.0
Dates: May 4-15, 2026
Location: Keele Campus
Instructor: Dr. Jessica Vorstermans
In-Person Course Learning Schedule
Extended Course Description
This 2-week immersive course (3 credits), led by Dr. Jessica Vorstermans studies how Cuba has woven its social fabric to deliver exceptionally high health outcomes, all rooted in a health equity approach. This unique course usually takes place in the beautiful city of Holguin, Cuba. Because of current US aggression and intensification of the blockade against Cuba, a 6-decade extraterritorial policy intent on bringing Cuba to it鈥檚 knees, the Canadian government has increased the travel advisory to level three, which means York policy outlines that we cannot travel to Cuba for the course. So the course has been re-imagined here at 快播视频- retaining many of the experiential components with the aim of remaining in solidarity with Cuba at this time and understanding the impacts of this current phase of US aggression on the country and specifically on the health care system.
This course gives students a hands-on experience of what this commitment looks like in practice through field trips and guest lectures, encuentros with Cuban students & diaspora. This learning experience will broaden your perspectives & deepen your understanding of global health & social systems.
Experiential Learning
Key to this course is the belief that solidarity is both possible and necessary. It is not easy, and doesn鈥檛 often feel good, but is possible. As the travel portion of the course was cancelled, the course will also engage in thinking about the context of cancellation and further consideration of links between Canada and Cuba. We will also engage in mutual aid work supporting the Canadian Network on Cuba鈥檚 donation drive that fills shipping containers that are shipped down to Cuba.
For Questions and Syllabus:
Contact Professor Jessica Vorstermans (jessvort@yorku.ca) for more information on the course.