. >> suarez: gail reed is american born and living in cuba. she edits a journal that studies cuban medicine called medic. >> having access to family doctors and nurses i think has been a key to cuban success even when there wasn't much medicine in the medicine cabinet. the preventive approach, having health care workers accessible to people doing home visits is a critical part of the success. >> suarez: like the rest of the developing world there's no doctor shortage in cuba which means the health care system here can push doctors and nurses down to the smallest rural communities, providing a kind of care that's both personal and persistent. here in a rural town, this doctor spends every afternoon making home visits. she reaches about six homes a day. after she finished medical school, free of cost for all cuban doctors, this doctor was assigned to work in this village. all new doctors must work where the government assigns them like everything in cuba the government keeps a close eye on medical employment ensuring that all cubans have access

. >> reporter: gail reed is an american who lives in cuba and edits the medical journal, "medicc." >> i think it's foreign policy to the extent that what can a small country do, you don't have foreign aid and big dollars signs to give, so what can you give? >> reporter: the medical missions have also been described as a way for cuba to get around a negative world view of it's human rights record. cuba's ministry of health describes the international medical aid as a natural outgrowth of cuba's educated population and revolutionary vision. >> ( translated ): our main source of wealth is human resources, everyone knows we are a poor country, but providing cuban doctors to other countries grew out of the ideas of our commander and chief fidel castro, who said, we are paying our debt of humanity to our brother countries who support our revolutionary causes. and who need our vast human resources. >> reporter: one young cuban doctor, orislariam morales, says she volunteered because she wanted to help families learn to prevent illness, something the cuban doctors are known for. she was sent