Trump says Cuba has ‘virtually no autism.’ That’s news to Cuban doctors

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sept. 21 (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP via CNN Newsource)

Havana, Cuba — Despite what you may have heard recently, and contrary to what U.S. President Donald Trump apparently believes, there is autism in Cuba.

For years, the island’s state-run medical system has operated clinics to treat Cubans with autism and carried out campaigns to raise awareness of the neurological developmental disorder. Cuba even offers specialized autism therapies such as swimming with dolphins for foreigners seeking treatment who can pay in badly needed hard currency.

But even though information about how Cuba’s healthcare system treats autism is available to anyone savvy enough to write “Cuba” and “autism” into Google, Trump on Monday made the bizarre and false claim that the island’s poverty has spared Cubans from the condition.

“I mean, there’s a rumour, and I don’t know if it’s so or not, that Cuba, they don’t have Tylenol because they don’t have the money for Tylenol. And they have virtually no autism, OK. Tell me about that one,” Trump said at an event on Monday where he urged pregnant women to avoid taking Tylenol, which he claimed – despite a lack of scientific evidence – could cause autism in their unborn children.

Cuban officials have yet to respond to Trump’s false claims and his comments have not been reported so far in the island’s state-run press.

But for years Cuban doctors have publicly detailed efforts made to treat children on the island who suffer from autism.

“Every autistic person is unique, and their well-being depends on listening, understanding, and walking alongside them, knowing that inclusion isn’t measured in words, but in embraces that respect silence and celebrate different ways of existing,” Dr. Osmara Delgado Sánchez told the state-run website Cubadebate on April 2, which is Autism Awareness Day.

While Cuba has reported much lower instances of autism than many developed countries – 0.36 cases per 10,000 people – the island’s health professionals concede that may in part be the result of the lack of resources needed to more widely diagnose the condition.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2021 about one in 127 people had autism. But the WHO cautioned, “the prevalence of autism in many low- and middle-income countries is unknown.”

Despite increasingly scant funds, Cuba’s beleaguered health sector is making autism a priority, officials said.

In the same Cubadebate article, Delgado said that there are 300 Cuban health professionals specialized in autism working in seven centres across the island devoted to treating patients with autism.

Cuba, she said, has developed specific autism treatments since 2018.

“We don’t talk about curing (Cuban patients with autism),” Delgado told the site. “But maximizing abilities … so no one is left behind.”