The largest island in the Caribbean, Cuba ranks 72th out of 189 countries in the 2019 Human Development Index and is one of the most successful in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Over the last 50 years, comprehensive social protection programmes have largely eradicated poverty and hunger. Food-based social safety nets include a monthly food basket for the entire population, school feeding programmes, and mother-and-child health care programmes. Although effective, these programmes mostly rely on food imports and strain the national budget. In 2011, in the context of efforts to make the economy more efficient, the government announced plans to make social protection more sustainable and streamlined, with an emphasis on the most vulnerable groups along “no one left behind” lines.