Commemorative medal — International Health Conference, Havana 1983 ("Salud para Todos")
Entry/Object ID
2025.1.192
Description
Round silvery-gray metal commemorative medal (table medal), struck in relief on both faces with a raised rim. One face shows a relief map of the island of Cuba across the center field, with a curved legend above and below. The other face shows a World Health Organization–style emblem at center — a single-serpent staff (Rod of Asclepius) superimposed on a gridded globe, flanked by two laurel branches curving up from a crossed base — with curved legends above and below. Surfaces are toned with scattered dark spotting and minor handling marks; no loop or mount.
Collection
The Cabrera Arús family collection
Acquisition
Accession
2025.1
Made/Created
Date made
1983
Time Period
1980s
Notes
Maker: Not identified from the object; no mintmark, engraver's signature, or issuing-bank legend is present. Presumably struck by the Cuban state mint (Casa de Moneda de Cuba) for the conference — tentative, unmarked.
Inscription/Signature/Marks
Notes
Map face: "SALUD PARA TODOS" (curved, upper field) / "25 AÑOS DE EXPERIENCIA CUBANA" (curved, lower field).
Emblem face: "CONFERENCIA INTERNACIONAL" (curved, upper field) / "HABANA · 1983" (curved, lower field), with a WHO-style serpent-staff-and-globe emblem within laurel.
No denomination, mintmark, or engraver's mark visible.
Materials
Material Notes
Materials: Silvery-gray base metal, consistent with a nickel or cupronickel alloy (tentative — not tested). Recommend measuring diameter/weight directly.
Technique: Die-struck (minted), bas-relief on both faces.
Condition
Overall Condition
Good
Relationships
Related Places
Place
City
Havana
Country
Cuba
Region
Caribbean, Central America
Notes
acquisition
Related Events
Event
Salud para todos
Research Notes
Notes
The medal commemorates an international health conference held in Havana in 1983, themed around the WHO/PAHO "Salud para Todos" ("Health for All") strategy. That global goal — "Health for All by the year 2000" — originated at the 1978 Alma-Ata Conference; 1983 is the year Cuba publicly claimed to have met its principal targets, framing the medal's "25 años de experiencia cubana" as roughly a quarter-century of the post-1959 Cuban health system. The reverse uses the WHO emblem (serpent-entwined staff over a globe), here within a laurel wreath.
