Late 1987-June 1990: Cuban Health Ministry Screens Population for HIV

Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health conducts 8 million HIV tests discovering 449 positive cases. Most of the infected individuals are quarantined by the Cuban government to prevent an epidemic. They are housed in a sanitarium, luxurious by Cuban standards, and they are exempted from work requirements. Though they are not prohibited from seeing family members and friends, any visits are restricted and monitored. Health officials from both developed and developing countries later request assistance from Cuba in establishing their own AIDS sanitariums. [Feinsilver, 1993, pp. 82-85]