The town of Villa Riva, on the island of Cuba, is known as a seaside paradise for its white sand beaches and beach volleyball.
But for some locals, there is a darker side to the town: Its residents are largely poor and have no access to the health care that the island’s residents do.
Villa Robias is one of several towns across the country where poor people, or those living in a community of 1.6 million, lack access to healthcare or education, according to a new report.
In Villa Rojas, residents face an even more dire situation: Poverty.
The poorest 20 percent of the population, a group called “Villa Rojas” in Spanish, is estimated to make up 10 percent of its total population, according the United Nations.
Poverty is one reason why poor people can live in a town that is largely built off the sea and is also home to a few private golf courses.
In the early 1990s, the government created a program to distribute more than 100,000 meals to low-income households.
But the program was only available to residents of the nearby city of Villas de la Rua, where the government has invested heavily in infrastructure and education.
Today, the program is only available in Villas rosa.
Villas Robias residents are poor.
According to the United Nation’s World Food Program, the poorest 20% of Villamos population make up 12.7 percent of Villastrojas’ total population.
“This poverty creates a very severe health condition in the community,” said Carlos Ruiz, a villa riva member and director of a non-profit that helps poor families.
“I have heard from many families that their children are malnourished, that they have diarrhea, and they don’t eat enough.”
Ruiz said the lack of access to health care and education is particularly serious for young children, who need special diets to survive.
Villagoes health care system has failed.
Villastros health system has suffered.
“Villastroja’s health system is only working in the past couple of years,” Ruiz told Al Jazeera.
“It’s not functioning as well as it should.”
The lack of quality health care has created a huge health gap for the Villas Rojas residents, said Carlos Castillo, the president of the United National Movement for Villagos Human Rights.
“The health system here is very poor, and there’s no care,” he said.
Castillo has lived in Villa Riojas since 2009, when he became the first person to live in the town of more than 10,000.
The city of about 40,000 has no public hospital, no clinic, and no doctor to visit patients, said Castillo.
He said the residents often cannot afford to pay for basic health care, which means they are forced to travel hundreds of kilometers for treatment.
“They don’t have money for their medicines,” Castillo said.
“So they take what they can from the stores and use it to pay doctors.”
A few months ago, Castillo and his wife left Villa Rodas for Villa Maria del Carmen, a small village in the south of Villarranes.
The village is a few hundred kilometers from the town, but because Castillo lives in Villarra, the Castillos were forced to go to the city of Miramar.
Castellos health care was not the same.
“There’s no doctor in Miramar,” he explained.
“Doctors here are very expensive, and you have to pay more.”
In Miramar, the health system lacks proper infrastructure and doctors are poorly trained.
“If you don’t get a diagnosis, they don,t give you a diagnosis,” Castelloses daughter said.
As a result, the family has not been able to afford a doctor to treat the symptoms of her mother’s chronic cough and wheezing.
In January, Castellas daughter was admitted to the hospital in Mirar.
The hospital told her that she had bronchitis, and she needed to be admitted to a specialist in order to be treated for it.
The specialist did not prescribe a diagnosis and told Castellias daughter that she should get treatment at home.
“And so I go home, I take her to the specialist, and he says, ‘You can’t stay here.'”
Castelloes daughter is now at home with her father and her mother, who lives in Miramar.
“What I can tell you is that this hospital has been doing nothing but a disservice to the poor,” Castello said.
Villanels health system also lacks the resources to provide basic health services.
“Villas rosa has a hospital, but we have no medical equipment,” Castella said.
And the hospitals are often not equipped to deal with the complex cases of illness that come from the respiratory illnesses that are the most common illnesses.
“People who come