In the first two decades following establishment of the national public health system in 1961, Cuba’s pediatric epidemiological profile was transformed. Mortality from malnutrition, acute diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, and infectious diseases steadily declined, as did the burden of these and other diseases associated with poverty and lack of access to health care. By 1980, infant mortality had dropped to 19.6 per 1000 live births, compared to 38.7 per 1000 live births in 1970.[1]