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Havana.- Three hundred and forty Nicaraguan students, selected to study medicine in Cuba, will travel to the island on Saturday. All of the students come from Nicaragua's rural areas and have promised to return to those areas after they graduate as doctors. The scholarships were offered by the Cuban government last December and are part of a program that includes Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador -- designed to aid the victims of Hurricane Mitch.
Havana-- Cuba's Health Minister Carlos Dotres, has announced the creation of a special group in charge of controlling the illegal sale of medicine on the island. The new group, which will work in coordination with the police and the Justice Ministry, has its main purpose to stop the underground sale of medicine. The Cuban Health official said that the group will oversee medicines in all the health institutions including , pharmacies, hospitals and clinics as well as controlling medical prescription. According to official statistics, last year Cuba registered an infant mortality rate of 7.1 per one thousand live births, the lowest in Latin America, performed over 800 thousand operations, increased outpatient surgery and mounted massive vaccination .campaigns. Primary medical attention received across the island was reflected in the reduction of emergency cases this past year. The Cuban Health Minister stressed that the island's health care system is based on prevention.
Havana-- An anti-polio vaccination campaign has begun across the island with the first phase covering children under three years of age. Polio was eradicated in Cuba when massive vaccination campaigns began in 1962. Today, all Cuban citizens under 53 years of age are protected against the disease. Before the Cuban Revolution, polio paralyzed and killed hundreds of people -- primarily children -- on the island. The World Health Organization's objective is to eradicate polio by the year 2000. In Latin America, the last reported case of polio was in Peru in 1994 and most of the cases are now registered in Africa. Cuba has eliminated four other diseases -- diphtheria in 1979, measles in 1993, and chicken pox and mumps in 1995. The National Vaccination Program currently protects the population against 13 preventable diseases
HAVANA.- The President of the Principality of Asturias, Sergio Marques Fernandez, yesterday opened the Jose Antonio Echeverria pavilion at the Salvador Allende hospital, Havana. This was completely restored with Asturian support. The President arrived on Wednesday, accompanied by a large delegation of officials and investors from Asturias, one of Spain's 17 autonomous regions. Marques Fernandez promised to continue this type of collaboration in the future. Previously, the Asturian leader and a group of investors had met Ibrahim Ferradaz, Cuban Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic collaboration who discussed the current situation in Cuba concerning investments and economy. The visitors were interested in facilities for foreign currency in Cuba and real estate business. Marquez Fernandez also met Ricardo Alarcon, President of the National Parliament. He visited the Santovenia Home for the Elderly.
MANAGUA.- Nicaraguan deputy for the autonomous region of North Atlantic, Steadman Fagoth, highlighted the work being performed by Cuban doctors in the area and requested the same type of cooperation in the education sector. In a letter addressed to the Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, Jose Antonio Alvarado and the Cuban Charge d'affaires Damian Arteaga, Fagoth noted that people from the Atlantic Coast are very grateful for the medical assistance given by Cuban doctors. He said they are pleased not only with the technical aid but with the kind manner of treating patients and methods of work. He said they would like to receive 455 elementary school teachers from Cuba, five for each of the 89 Indian communities in the Atlantic region.
HAVANA-- A Cuban medical brigade will leave for Colombia on Saturday to aid victims of the earthquake that severely affected the western city of Armenia. The Cuban health professionals are responding to a request of the Colombian government to work in the areas affected by the recent earthquake that hit that South American nation. Cuba currently has over 2000 health professionals in 57 countries -- with more than 200 offering their services to the victims of Hurricane Mitch in Central America and the Caribbean.
HAVANA-- Cuban United Nations representative Rafael Dausa says that in the area of social services, "what is just a dream for most of the world has been a reality in Cuba for the last 40 years." Speaking during the 37th Session of the UN's Social Development Commission, Dausa noted that the island dedicates an ever greater portion of its budget to social services. The recently passed 1999 budget, he explained, earmarks 39 percent of the island's total expenditures for education and health -- 3.6 percent more than the year before. Cuban UN Ambassador Rafael Dausa said that Cuba has the highest per capita of teachers in the world and, in health care, the island is in the vanguard of Latin America with indicators better than many developed countries with greater resources. Payments to pensioners, said the Cuban official, amount to 4.3 percent of the budget.
HAVANA.- Cuban President Fidel Castro, and Belizean Prime Minister, Said Musa, signed cooperation agreements concerning education, tourism, construction and sports last night, reinforcing bilateral relations. The Belizean delegation and the Cuban Ministers involved attended the signing held at the Palco Hotel, Havana. Cordel Hayde, Belizean Education Minister, said that this was much more than expected and he was pleased by the 65 scholarships granted by the Cuban authorities for Belizean students, including 15 for medical training. Said Musa and his delegation will return to Belize today.
HAVANA.- Belizean Prime Minister, Said Musa, told press he was very satisfied by the outcome of his visit to Cuba. He considered the visit as warm, friendly and positive. He said that all CARICOM countries and Belize are willing to receive Cuba into the Organization. "When I return home I will tell my people that problems are not important, because everything is possible when the people are motivated, as proved by the Cuban example", said Said Musa.
HAVANA.- Cuban Higher Education Minister, Fernando Vecino Alegret, said his country can continue helping the Dominican Republic with the training of doctors and other professionals. The Minister is heading an official delegation that will sign an agreement today on the construction of a polytechnic school donated by Havana. Yesterday, Vecino Alegre paid a courtesy visit to the Senate and the House of Deputies as the current Head of the Parliamentary Group of Friendship with the Dominican Republic. He told press that the school, with capacity for 500 students, may be finished by this year. It will be built in Bani, birthplace of Dominican-Cuban patriot Maximo Gomez.
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Ciego de Avila-- The International Orbis Project as ended a visit to the central province of Ciego de Avila after performing surgery on more than 50 people and training over 360 different specialists. The team of ophthalmologists, nurses, engineers and other experts from 13 countries trained Cuban specialists on the latest scientific and technological advances related to eye ailments. Of the over 300 patients in the central region of the island examined for glaucoma and other ailments, 32 adults and 22 children were treated with laser therapy. In this third visit by the non-governmental Orbis Project, its personnel made an important donation worth more than 50,000 dollars, including medicines, surgical instruments and videos of surgical procedures.
Havana-- The Deputy Regional Director of UNICEF's office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Cecilio Adorna, said that Cuba is an example of a country with few economic resources which can still guarantee free education and health care. During a news conference at Havana's International Convention Center, the official of the United Nations Children's Fund said that it is not important how much you invest, but how the amount earmarked for social spending is used. He pointed out that there are countries where the results do not justify the investment. The deputy regional director for UNICEF's Latin American and Caribbean office -- in Cuba for the International Conference Pedagogy '99 taking place in Havana -- pointed out that the conference is an important contribution of the Cuban people to Latin America, education and regional integration as well as UNICEF's fight in defense of children. The UN official stressed that to prioritize education means to invest in the future, defend human rights, assure scientific-technical advances and economic development to guarantee a happy childhood for the men and women of tomorrow.
Havana-- Specialists from the International ORBIS Project said they are very impressed with the preparation and knowledge of ophthalmologists from Cuba's central province of Ciego de Avila where the non-governmental organization is currently working. The head of the ORBIS mission, Roberto Whitty, and Cuban ophthalmologists from Ciego de Avila agreed that foreign and Cuban specialists have mutually benefited from the exchange of ideas. ORBIS physicians have treated patients with glaucoma and other eye ailments, although their main objective is to train doctors, nurses and other specialists in the field.
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Havana-- Cuba is among the countries with the least number of AIDS patients in the world, according to the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations, Ariel Francais. According to a report issued by the United Nations, 11 people contract the HIV virus each minute throughout the world -- a total of 662 every hour. The UN resident coordinator added that Cuba is one of the nations least affected by the deadly disease, although he warned that the opening to tourism is a key factor to take into consideration. He stressed the United Nation's interest in maintaining its support and contributing to the control of AIDS in the country. Since the beginning of Cuba's AIDS prevention program in 1986 until December 1998, 2122 people have been registered as HIV positive; of that number, 800 have become ill and 572 have died as a result of the disease.
Havana-- Over 20,000 elderly people received social security benefits during 1998 and, according to official plans for this year, all types of assistance to the elderly will be increased, despite the island's economic situation. The Director of the Labor Ministry's Social Assistance Office, Santos Prieto, stated that the island's elderly are included in a government plan that invests over 50 million pesos each year to help single mothers and orphans.
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Holguin-- Cuban Health Minister Carlos Dotres said that the island is proud of its trained health professionals, capable of enormous sacrifices for humanity. Dotres pointed to one example of their selfless work: the Cuban medical brigades that are currently offering their services in Central America and the Caribbean. During an exchange with professors and medical students in the eastern province of Holguin, Dotres added that the country is trying to arrange the technical conditions necessary to improve the health sector. The Cuban health official said that many letters and messages of gratitude have been received from the most humble sectors of Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti for the selfless assistance given by Cuban doctors to those nations affected by Hurricane Mitch.
Havana-- The discoverer of the AIDS virus, French doctor Luc Montagnier, said in Cuba that despite being controlled on the island, the disease could spread rapidly if strict education campaigns are not maintained. On Tuesday Montagnier ended a five-day visit to Cuba to exchange information with Cuban experts and to learn about the island's AIDS treatment programs. The French scientist, who isolated the AIDS virus in l983 and how is currently the president of the World Foundation for Research and Prevention of AIDS, told reporters in Havana that he has a very high opinion of AIDS research being done in Cuba. In related news, Cuban Health Minister Carlos Dotres announced that the French doctor will collaborate with the island in obtaining a vaccine against AIDS.
Havana-- Some 630 Cuban doctors, nurses and technicians are currently volunteering their services in the most remote and poor areas of Central America and Haiti. According to Cuban health officials, that number will go up to 880 by the end of this month. Health Ministry official Alfredo Portero told journalists in Havana that the number of Cuban medical personnel working in Central America and Haiti could go as high as 2000 if that many are requested.
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Havana-- Cuban Health Ministry official Alfredo Potero told Radio Havana Cuba that the fifth medical brigade, which includes 40 health professionals, has arrived in Haiti to work in the country's rural areas. There are currently 200 Cuban health personnel offering their services in Haiti. A sixth Cuban medical brigade is scheduled to leave for that Caribbean nation next Sunday. Meanwhile, the Nicaraguan daily La Prensa published an article entitled "Population Pleased with Cuban Medical Personnel," outlining the medical brigades' services to the victims of Hurricane Mitch.
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Havana-- A Latin American Medical School will be inaugurated next month in Havana -- ready to receive the first 1000 scholarship students from the Central American nations affected by Hurricane Mitch. Cuban construction workers are currently remodeling the country's Naval Academy, which was donated by the Cuban Armed Forces, which will house the new school to be used to prepare the future doctors of those Central American countries. Cuban President Fidel Castro recently reiterated that not only will Cuba send medical brigades to Central American nations affected by Hurricane Mitch, but the island is also willing to receive some five thousand young people from that region over a period of ten years to study medicine on the island
Havana.- South African health authorities expressed to Cuba their interest in vaccine production, in purchasing diagnostic kits, in the upgrading of medical doctors and in an increase in Cuban experts to that country. South African deputy minister, Ayanda Ntsaluba, noted during his talks with Cuban Minister of Health Care Carlos Dotres, that cooperation with Cuba is "solid" and that the work done by Cuban doctors +changing the health care face in South Africa is a proof of it.
Havana.- A Cuban medical brigade from Pinar del Rio has given assistance to almost 2 thousand patients during its first 8 days in Honduras. Now is in the department of Yoro. Doctor Juan C. Perez, a brigade member, described their battle against anemia, diarrhea, parasites, bronchitis, pneumonia and scabies, diseases endemic of that region, as a wide and direct one.
In a rare show of cooperation between the United States and Cuba, health officials in the communist-run nation on Wednesday introduced an American-made needle-free vaccine injector that will be tested on Cubans. ``This is a gesture of cooperation by our country with another country, in this case with a company from the United States,'' said Dr. Manuel Diaz Gonzalez, deputy director of Cuba's Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine. Health officials introduced the injector, made by Genesis Medical Technologies Inc. of Denver, to a group of Cuban nurses. They are among 200 vaccinators who will give a Cuban-produced anti-tetanus vaccine to 6,000 volunteers from urban and rural areas. On Wednesday, they learned how to load the injectors and tested them on oranges. The real injections will begin on Monday in Havana, and the trial will take three months to complete. State health officials, among others, would oversee the vaccinations, and 60 doctors would study the reactions of those who received the shots. Those receiving the vaccinations would be required to sign a consent form. Clauses in the 36-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba allow for the licensed sale and donation of medicines to Cuba. Stephen Marshall, the Genesis representative in Cuba, said the trial had the approval of both the Cuban and U.S. authorities. ``They know exactly what is going on,'' he told Reuters. The Genesis needle-free jet injector, which is about six inches (15 cm) long, uses a metal spring to drive a piston through a small vial of vaccine. ``It fires a very fine jet which exits at 500 mph (800 kph),'' Diaz said. The company says its product is cleaner and safer than the conventional needle and syringe, reducing the dangers of needlestick injuries and cross contamination.
Havana, December 16(RHC)-- Cuban doctors have changed the face of health in South Africa, according to South African health authorities who are visiting Cuba.
A South African delegation, headed by Deputy Health Minister Ayanda Ntsaluba and the Health Minister of Kwazulu Natal province, Zweli Mkhize, met with Cuban Health Minister Carlos Dotres and characterized Cuba's solidarity as "an inspiring gesture for the South African people."
The South African health delegation's visit is aimed at increasing cooperation with Cuba which includes the island's research on an AIDS vaccine, and the purchase of laboratory equipment.
There are currently 400 Cuban doctors offering their services in 124 health facilities in eight provinces in South Africa. There are 25 Cuban professors teaching at the University of Transkai medical school. And over 300 Cuban doctors, nurses, technicians and other health personnel are offering services in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti.
In related news, another Cuban medical brigade has arrived in Haiti and another one is scheduled to leave for Guatemala on Friday.
A plan proposed by Cuban President Fidel Castro includes sending no less than 200 doctors to Haiti and 2000 to Central America in an attempt to save thousands of lives each year. Cuba has also offered to extend scholarships to 5500 young people from the region over a period of ten years to study medicine in Cuba.
Havana-- South Africa's Deputy Health Minister, Ayanda Ntsaluba is currently in Cuba on a four-day official visit aimed at expanding health cooperation between both nations. The South African official said that the objective of his visit to the island is to analyze the purchase of vaccines and other pharmaceutical products needed in different provinces of the African country. The South African deputy health minister characterized the work of the Cuban doctors in that African nation as very good and expressed his desire for more Cuban doctors to offer their services to his country.
Las Tunas-- A successful, complex upper-spinal surgery with the use of acupuncture was carried out at the Ernesto Guevara Hospital in eastern Las Tunas province. This new method is a contribution to the growing use of natural and traditional medicine on the island. The 60-year-old patient who underwent a two and a half hour operation did not receive general anesthesia and for the first time acupuncture was applied with the support of local anesthesia.
Guatemala City, December 9(RHC)-- The second Cuban medical brigade to Guatemala has begun to offer its services to the victims of Hurricane Mitch. The medical personnel are attempting to prevent the spread of epidemics in the municipality of Joyabai, located in Quiche Department.
According to Cuba's ambassador in Guatemala, Freddy Torres, the medical brigade includes the medical equipment to install temporary clinics.
With the arrival of the new medical brigade, the number of Cuban doctors in Guatemala has increased to 70.
HAVANA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Cuba, proud of its health record under Fidel Castro's four- decade-old communist government, expressed optimism on Wednesday that its scientists would find vaccines for AIDS and some forms of cancer in coming years. ``We need a few years more, but we are working hard on this, and are very hopeful,'' Deputy Health Minister Raul Perez told Reuters in an interview. He predicted that Cuba's state-run biotechnology industry would come up with a usable AIDS vaccine within about seven years. A vaccine to prevent patients with malignant tumors from developing cancer was also on track, added Perez, without elaborating.
Other Cuban officials have been even more optimistic in recent days. Health Minister Carlos Dotres surprised reporters in Honduras last week when he said Cuba would have an AIDS vaccine ready ``at latest in two or three years.'' And Cuban scientist Manuel Limonta was quoted in state media on Wednesday as saying studies of a possible cancer vaccine had produced ``stimulating results,'' while an AIDS vaccine would be ready by 2006 if it passed three test-stages.
AIDS experts elsewhere say a vaccine is the only way to address the virus globally, but nobody has come up with one that is accepted as safe. The problem is that the AIDS virus can mutate and re-form itself, making standard vaccine approaches such as using a weakened version of the virus unworkable.
Castro's government has long prided itself on its biotechnological and pharmaceutical sectors, and its free national health system, which are among the most developed and extensive in the Third World. But Cuba's health services have suffered amid the severe economic recession that has affected the Caribbean island this decade since the fall of the Soviet bloc. Many Cubans now grumble of medicine shortages, long waits to see doctors, and superior services available to dollar-paying foreigners. Such complaints, Perez argued, were a reflection on the abundance Cubans were used to before the economic crisis.
``Everyone had a medicine-chest in their home then,'' he said. Blaming the economic squeeze on the U.S. trade embargo, and the end of generous aid and trade ties with the former communist bloc, Perez said Cuba had managed to maintain its health system against the odds. The government did not reduce its health budget, close one medical centre or scale down research in response to the crisis, he said. And Cuba's health statistics are still among the world's best, with an infant mortality rate of 7.2 per 1,000 births, and one doctor for every 176 inhabitants on the island of 11 million people, Perez added. ``In the neoliberal countries, the first thing they do is cut public health. Not here,'' he said.
``Undeniably, there are shortages in some areas. But no-one has died for lack of medicine.'' Cuba currently spends $40 million a year importing drugs from abroad, which would be much cheaper to obtain from the United States if there were no embargo, he added. Perez said Cuba was prepared to work with foreign governments and companies to export its vaccines for the meningitis B and hepatitis B diseases. ``What is absolutely clear, is the willingness of the Cuban government to send these wherever they are needed and will help people,'' he said. Following a meningitis epidemic in the 1980s, Cuba developed a vaccine that virtually eliminated the disease, according to health ministry statistics. That vaccine has been exported to Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. Havana said it achieved the same result with hepatitis B, and various other illnesses.
Havana-- A second Cuban medical brigade will leave for Haiti on Saturday as part of an aid plan that will include a third contingent next week and a fourth in January. Dr. Alfredo Portero, spokesperson for the group, said that a total of 200 Cuban specialists will work in Port Au Prince's General Hospital and in nine other areas of the country. The Cuban specialists, which include pediatricians, orthopedic surgeons, gynecologists and other surgeons and nurses, will offer their services for one year or more, if necessary.
Havana--Cuban Health authorities have announced that German Measles and mumps are on the list of childhood diseases that have been eliminated on the island. The diseases were eradicated by means of vaccines, given free of charge to all children. According to international health agencies, a disease has been completely eradicated when a case is not reported for a period of three years after applying the vaccine nation wide. Despite Cuba's economic difficulties, the country has managed to completely eradicate childhood diseases such as polio, measles and diphtheria.
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Camaguey, December 4(RHC)-- With the inauguration of the Center for Natural and Traditional Medicine in the eastern province of Camaguey, all of the island's municipalities now offer such services.
Inaugurated on the occasion of National Health Worker's Day, the center will include acupuncture treatment, homeopathy, self-relaxation and hypnosis and mud therapy.
Dr. Leoncio Padron Caceres, Coordinator of the National Commission for Natural and Traditional Centers explained that the island's centers have varying levels of sophistication depending on the amount training of their personnel, years of experience and time for research.
Camaguey province is considered to be among the island's regions with the most studies performed on medicinal plants.
Managua, December 4(RHC)-- The U.S. religious/solidarity group Pastors for Peace delivered a shipment of medicines to the Cuban medical team working in Posoltega -- the community where more than two thousand were buried alive by a mudslide when Hurricane Mitch hit that Central American country last month. Heading the humanitarian aid caravan is the Reverend Lucius Walker, the Executive Director of Pastors for Peace.
Speaking with reporters in what is left of the northern Nicaraguan town -- almost completely destroyed by the massive mudslide -- Reverend Walker said that his organization decided to earmark a part of its medical shipment for the community as soon as they heard that the Cuban doctors were there.
Reverend Walker praised Cuba's selfless solidarity with the victims of Hurricane Mitch, not only in Nicaragua but also in Honduras and Guatemala where other medical brigades are freely offering their services.
The arrival of Pastors for Peace in Nicaragua follows a humanitarian aid caravan to Chiapas last week. The U.S. religious/solidarity group also organizes what are called Friendshipment Caravans to Cuba. Reverend Lucius Walker told reporters that the next caravan to the island is scheduled for mid-1999.
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Cubans sometimes quip that their country is the only in the world where a patient gets an expertly performed heart transplant free of charge but then dies the following week of a simple infection because an antibiotic could not be found. Foreign newspapers also carry anecdotes of doctors liberally prescribing medicines they know their patients will not get. The general observation is that Cuba abounds with a medical expertise which has trouble satisfying medical needs because of a lack of medicines and equipment.
Do Cuba's national statistics support this view? And have the country's general health indicators consequently deteriorated as a result of its economic crisis?
The answer to the second question is evidently no. Cuba reported universal healthcare (access by 100% of the population) even during the depth of the economic crisis in 1993. Child immunization rates for measles and DPT was 100% in 1995. The maternal mortality rate has decreased from 31.6 to 23.5 (per 1,000 live births) during the 1990's. Life expectancy at birth has remained high: 74 years for males and 78 for females in 1996.
Other healthcare indicators also hold up well during the crisis. The number of inhabitants per doctor have markedly decreased from 303 in 1989 to 183 in 1996. The number of healthcare facilities increased from 1,715 in 1990 to 1,783 from 1990 to 1996. The number of beds increased from 78,164 to 81,549 during the same period. Medical consultations per capita increased from 6.4 to 7.0. Healthcare expenditures by the government increased by over 250 million pesos and increased their share of total government budgeted outlays from 13% to 16% during the period. Cuba's healthcare infrastructure appears to have weathered the economic crisis that buffeted Cuba in the early 1990's relatively well.
So what is wrong with the sector? Have not the government's redoubled efforts kept healthcare from being decimated by the crisis like most other sectors of the economy? Are the anecdotes off the mark?
It is Cuba's trade statistics which tell another tale. In 1990 the country imported about $54.5 million in medical and pharmaceutical products. By 1996 this figure had dropped to $18 million, a decrease of 67%. Imports of raw materials for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals decreased from $43.2 million to $9.9 million, a 77% drop. In comparison, total imports into the country decreased 53% and that of food products by only 17%. Furthermore, the modest recovery beginning in 1994 has not had a great impact in the availability of medicines. Although imports increased slightly in 1995, they decreased again in 1996 when Cuba registered strong growth in the overall economy.
These figures indeed suggest a great scarcity of medicines has developed in Cuba during the crisis and that the scarcity has been even more extreme than other economic indicators might explain. The shortages have also occurred concomitantly with a much higher availability of doctors and while the number of medical facilities have not shrunk. The conclusion one has to draw is that the data do in fact support the idea that Cubans can easily find a doctor who will prescribe medicines that cannot be found.
The charge could be made that Cuba has misallocated healthcare resources by over-investing in medical education while under-investing in medicines. However, it should be pointed out that the education of doctors represents a peso cost to the government while imported medicines represent a dollar cost. The scarcity of medicines may be nothing more than another symptom of the scarcity of foreign exchange. The fact that food imports have not decreased nearly as much could be the result that entities in the tourism sector have access to the foreign exchange they earn and are also intensive food importers. Cuba's excellent life expectancy should also not be forgotten. Either the paucity of medicines has yet to affect people's survivability, or the country's scant healthcare resources are being focussed on life-impacting treatment. Despite their troubles, Cubans remain among the longest lived people in the world.
CUBANALYSIS
(Statistical sources for this issue are: World Development Indicators 1998 CD ROM, World Bank Anuario Estadistico de Cuba 1996.)
Free offer: if you have not received a prior issue of CUBANALYSIS and would like to receive one, reply to this message and let us know which issue(s) you would like. The topics are as follow:
CUBANALYSIS #1: a study of the role of family remittances in Cuba's economy.
CUBANALYSIS #2: a data analysis of the registered American property confiscation claims against Cuba.
CUBANALYSIS #3: an assessment of Cuba's faltering economic recovery.
CUBANALYSIS #4: a look at Cuba's inflation and monetary overhang
CUBANALYSIS #5: a profile of Cuba's tourism industry and a comparison with Jamaica and the Dominican Republic
CUBANALYSIS #6: a look at Cuba's food production in the 1990's.
CUBANALYSIS #7: a statistical portrayal of Cuba's balance of payments
Havana, December 2(RHC)-- An official of the European Union's Humanitarian Aid Office, Jose Rivas Roca, characterized Cuba's use of EU donations over the past five years as highly positive.
The European Union official said that plans to contribute in maintaining the achievements of the island's health care system include all 14 Cuban provinces and health centers, including social institutions.
Jose Rivas Roca stated that, following an analysis with the Cuban government, among the priorities are medicines, food and surgical materials.
Since 1994, Cuba has received aid from the European Union amounting to some 70 million dollars.
Havana, December 2(RHC)-- Zambia's Foreign Minister Keli Walubita has wound up an official visit to Cuba, aimed at analyzing bilateral relations with the island.
During his stay on the island, the Zambian foreign minister met with his Cuban counterpart, Roberto Robaina, and with Political Bureau member Jose Ramon Balaguer.
The African leader also met with Cuba's acting Health Minister, Abelardo Ramirez, as well as Sugar Ministry official, Alfredo Hondal.
Both sides discussed a Cuban medical brigade which will include 40 doctors and three sugar technicians to visit Zambia as part of the cooperation agreements.
Havana-- Cuba is one of the countries with the fewest AIDS patients in the world, according to the resident coordinator of the United Nations, Ariel Francais, on the occasion of World AIDS Day on Tuesday. The date was commemorated in Havana with the inauguration of the National Center for the Prevention and Control of Transmittable Diseases as part of the Cuban government's efforts to confront the epidemic and guarantee an improved quality of life for HIV patients on the island. A United Nations report reveals that so far this year, worldwide, 33 million 400,000 people have been infected with the AIDS virus and that those between the ages of 15 to 24 years of age are the most affected.
Havana-- LABIOFAM, Cuba's Biological and Pharmaceutical Laboratories, contributed nearly six million dollars to the State during this past year, with the development of new vaccines and medicinal products. Among the current priorities of LABIOFAM is the distribution of Biorat, a biological agent to destroy or kill rats and mice -- the major carriers of fatal disease. Tons of Biorat have been sent to Central America, where health professionals are fighting against outbreaks of major epidemics following the destruction of Hurricane Mitch.
Havana-- Cuba has always extended a helping hand of solidarity to the people of the world. Following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Mitch, the recent example of Cuban doctors and medical personnel in Central America is fresh in the minds of most. But Cuban doctors are lending their services in scores of countries around the world -- including Paraguay, Botswana, Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, the Seychelles, Mozambique South Africa, Brazil, Jamaica, Angola and Guyana. Cuban sports trainers are working with athletes in many parts of the world, primarily in Latin America and the Caribbean. Among the countries where Cuban sports experts are lending their services are: Barbados, Mexico, Brazil, El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, Venezuela, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Chile.
Havana. - As a consequence of the priority given by Cuba to health care, infant mortality rate in children under one year of age reached its lowest rate ever with 7.1 per 1 thousand in 1998. Dr. Carlos Dotres, minister of health, pointed out that "our medical system does not work for reducing rates but to achieve the highest levels in the quality of life of every Cuban citizen". The reduction in the above-mentioned rate from 7.2 in 1997 to 7.1 in 1998, when almost 151 thousand children were born, is not a simple mathematical subtraction, but bringing 28 children to life, all thanks to the effort made by Those working in the health care sector.
Havana - Around 420 Honduran youth have enrolled in the Program of 300 medical scholarships in Cuba, offered by the Cuban government to help relieve the disaster caused by Hurricane Mitch. Maruca dipp, director of Cultural affairs of the Honduran foreign ministry, said that these young candidates are looking forward to studying in Cuba. They will all go through a screening process. The scholarships will be distributed taking into account the poverty level of the 18 provinces of this Central American country, added the official.
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Havana-- Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, currently on an official visit to Nicaragua, has stated that relations between the two countries are going well -- despite their differences. During a joint news conference in the northern Department of Esteli -- where Robaina, accompanied by Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman, traveled to visit the Cuban medical brigades offering their assistance to victims of Hurricane Mitch --Aleman took the opportunity to thank the government and people of Cuba for the urgently needed assistance. Aleman said that with Robaina's visit, Cuba has now agreed to grant another 100 scholarships to Nicaraguans wishing to study medicine in Cuba -- up from an original 200 to 300..The Cuban foreign minister stated that his visit was solely aimed atratifying Cuba's willingness to send all the medical personnel needed by the Central American nations affected by Mitch and to officially sign the documents pardoning Nicaragua's 50 million dollar bilateral debt to Cuba.
Havana-- Young Central American students are beginning to arrive in Cuba to begin training as doctors at a new school especially created for the purpose. The Latin American School of Medicine will be located in the old Naval Academy in Havana, serving the students coming from countries most-affected by the recent hurricanes that devastated the region. The first preparatory and premedical courses will begin next month. The school is expected to be fully operational by September 1999.
Havana-- Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina traveled to Haiti on Tuesday to evaluate the medical assistance currently provided by Cuban health specialists. Cuban health authorities have announced that during the month of January, the number of Cuban health specialists providing assistance in Central America and Haiti will more than double. As of December 31st, 406 Cuban health specialists were working in these countries, and that number will reach 880 by the end of this month. Last Sunday, another medical brigade comprised of 23 specialists headed for Haiti, while this month more brigades will arrive in Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti and Nicaragua. Also this month, the first 1000 Central American and Haitian students will arrive in Cuba to study medicine, as part of a plan to train 5500 doctors from these countries over the next ten years.
Havana, November 3(RHC)-- Cuba has offered humanitarian assistance to the people of Honduras, seriously affected by Hurricane Mitch. Cuba's Health Minister Carlos Dotres stated that 14 doctors and nurses from different specialties will travel to the most affected areas of Honduras, mainly the region of Mosquitia in the Department of Gracias a Dios, which was the hardest hit by the storm.
Referring to Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman's refusal to accept Cuba's offer of humanitarian aid for the Nicaraguan people, the Cuban Health Minister said that Cuba has always offered its solidarity with the rest of the people's of the world when they are severely affected by a natural disaster. He pointed to the example of the Dominican Republic, Honduras and other countries that have been affected.
Cuba currently has 1500 Cuban medical specialists serving in some 40 countries around the world.
[c] 1998, Radio Habana Cuba
Havana- Germany's Foreign Affairs Office and Bayer Pharmaceutical Company have donated three tons of medicines to Cuba as part of Bonn's cooperation efforts to help maintain health care -- one of the island's most important social achievements. The first part of the German donation arrived in Havana on the inaugural flight of Condor Airlines, which transported the donation free of charge. During a ceremony held in Havana, Cuban health authorities thanked the German government, Bayer Pharmaceuticals and Condor Airlines for the donation.
October 31, 1998.
Havana.- Recombinant human eritroprotein, a glucoprotein that stimulates red cell production, was obtained for the first time in Cuba through genetic engineering. This injectable product was developed at the molecular immunology center. Its marketing has started only for hospital use in patients suffering from anemia, particularly those affected by acute renal impairment, aids patients requiring AZT treatment and cancer patients under chemotherapy.
Havana, October 23(RHC)-- The Cuban health care system is an example for the Americas, according to Panama's Health Minister Libia Moreno who took part in the Psychohabana '98.
Dr. Moreno traveled to Cuba -- not in her capacity as health minister, but as a psychiatrist -- to attend the event at Havana's Convention Center this week.
The Panamanian official said one of the biggest challenges for Latin American psychiatrists is to achieve a humane and integral system for its mental patients in the next millennium.
She added that many countries in the region want to emulate Cuba's example in the field in an attempt to improve their own health care systems.
Havana, October 23 (RHC)-- During a meeting with Cuban Health Minister Carlos Dotres in Havana, representatives of New York Catholic Hospitals said they are interested in cooperating in Cuba's health sector.
The delegation is headed by the Director of New York's Catholic Hospitals Network, Dr. Mary Elizabeth Healy Sedutto.
The President of Saint Clair Hospital in New York City, James Rutherford, referred to the exchange of specialists in the field of infectious diseases and scientific documentation as a review for health personnel.
Dr. Rutherford characterized Cuba's health care system as "impressive" and praised the level of primary health care.
Cuba's Health Minister Carlos Dotres explained the characteristics of the island's health care system and the effects of the U.S. blockade.
Members of the delegation from New York City are touring hospitals in Matanzas province and are scheduled to visit health institutions in Havana on Saturday. The group will wind up their tour of the island on Sunday.
Havana, October 22(RHC)-- Two important events are taking place in Havana as part of the international psychiatry conference Psychohabana '98: the International Symposium on Violence Against Children and the First French-Latin American Meeting on Legal Psychiatry.
Argentinean Senator Mario Losada, a participant in the Symposium on Violence Against Children, stated that "defending a child today preserves tomorrow's adult" -- helping to achieve a more just and more closely-knit society. Losada stressed that early preventive work can keep children from becoming violent. The Argentinean lawmaker emphasized the need to make the world aware of the importance of protecting children.
Violence was also a topic of discussion in the First French-Latin American Meeting on Legal Psychiatry, in which participants noted the importance of treating such cases both from a clinical and a social point of view. Psychohabana '98 wraps up tomorrow, Friday.
Granma International 1998. Electronic Edition. Havana, Cuba
We are blockaded, we don't have the possibility of swiftly being able to buy a quantity of grains, or whatever, in Florida, with minimum transportation, neither are we able to get credit from any bank, from any of those international agencies. On the other hand, we have ourselves: a hardened people, a veteran people, an experienced people, an organized people, a protected people. Here's the data, the names and municipalities of the persons who have died. Not one child, not one adolescent, not one young person! In spite of our difficulties and shortages, we sent the aforementioned aid to the Dominican Republic under the responsibility of the Revolution and with your support. (APPLAUSE) That's what's important.
We have invested the aircraft fuel, some pieces of equipment that will permit minor surgery, to attend to the people there for a period of time, but fully aware of what it signifies in moral terms for Cuba to do that. They're not going to measure it by volume, but as a gesture. And if we are prepared to help a country that has suffered greater destruction than ours, I believe that we're not just preaching with words, but by example.
We have confidence in the quality of the specialists who went there, and we hope they can save lives!
Havana, October 19 (RHC)-- The fifth Conference of the Iberoamerican Intergovernmental Network on Technical Cooperation for the Elderly and Disabled kicked off in eastern Santiago de Cuba with the participation of 22 regional countries.
Participant in the event will hold round table discussions and conferences, and will exchange information on the policies toward the elderly and the disabled.
The event will run through Thursday.
Havana, October 19 (RHC)-- Aero-Caribbean airlines has inaugurated a weekly Guatemala-Cuba passenger route and has announced the possibility of increasing flights to twice weekly by next month.
Aero-Caribbean president, Julian Alvarez said in Havana that multidestination routes will be included in the future as well as excursions in Guatemala.
Granma International 1998. Electronic Edition. Havana
Cuban pesticide BIORAT is a revelation, given its effectiveness in the eradication of rodent plagues. LIKE a contemporary version of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, whose haunting melodies led hundreds of rats into the river, a new Cuban biological pesticide has appeared on the scene whose effectiveness and usefulness has been proven in various countries suffering from outbreaks of rodent epidemics. This is BIORAT, a unique biodegradable product with multiple advantages due to its high efficiency rate and conditions, given that it is harmless to human beings, has no negative effects on the ecosystem and only attacks rodents without damaging other animal species. Pesticide research and trials were initiated in Cuba 20 years ago and production for domestic use began in 1985. From then to date, much could be written on this Cuban preparation, whose most recent success was the elimination of millions of rats laying waste to the capital of Bolivia. Here it's appropriate to refer to BIORAT's success rate in other Latin American countries and in Asia. In 1994, a bubonic plague epidemic broke out in Chiclayo, in the desert region of Peru, and the product was applied to eradicate the epidemic. In the Peruvian city of Chimbote the dangerous population of rodents affecting fishmeal production there was brought under control by BIORAT.
Subsequently, an outbreak of leptospirosis was reported in eight Nicaraguan municipalities, with over 1000 cases, and within one month of a BIORAT campaign, the epidemic was contained. Similar results were reported in the battle against hemorrhagic fever in Bolivia, Venezuela and Argentina. A further positive experience has been the use of the Cuban pesticide in the Mekong Delta rice fields, where, in some areas, 30-70% of the harvests have been ruined by rodent activity. Rats and mice there are creating economic, social and health problems, demonstrated by the fact that in some parts of the Mekong farmers have had to evacuate their villages due to the destruction of their harvests. Within 12 days of applying BIORAT in those places, its effective- ness was 85pcent. Given these results, a biofactory is being built in Viet Nam, as a Cuban-Vietnamese association for the production of the pesticide to control rats and mice infesting the rice areas of that country. The product has also been successfully utilized in poultry farms, hog breeding centers, slaughterhouses and other installations in the Dominican Republic, Central America and other areas. The Labiofam enterprise, in charge of BIORAT production, is currently working with a Chinese corporation to extend production to that huge country.
After field trials, it is also about to be registered in Syria, Libya, Egypt, Turkey, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Interest in BIORAT has also been shown in Malaysia and Indonesia, while its use has extended throughout India. There are also prospects within the United States , despite an article published in the New York scientific magazine Lancer which questioned the Labiofam product, arguing that it presents high risks for the population. Subsequently, the same magazine was forced to publish another article from the World Reference Center for Stocks, which clearly confirms that BIORAT is a totally innocuous product. The initial article reflected economic concerns in some U.S. competitive circles because of the results of this Cuban pesticide, demonstrated in various countries.. In fact, Cuban BIORAT has no competition, since there is no other product currently on the market with similar conditions; i.e.,rodents do not develop resistance to it, and it has no negative effects on the environment. BIORAT is a product applied over six-month periods, utilizing all the technical requirements. It can be applied once a year with extremely successful results..
For two consecutive years, this biological pesticide has won bids in Central America over U.S. laboratory products - including the reputed Abbot company - for its quality, stability and effectiveness.
Havana, October 15 (RHC)-- The French Rhone Poulenc Rorer Foundation announced a donation of over 140,000 doses of antibiotics and other medicines destined for the island's hospitals.
The president of the Foundation, George Boumendil, outlined the efficiency of the Cuban Health System and the institution's intention of continuing its cooperation with the island.
Boumendil added that the medical donation will arrive in Havana in a few days.
The French Foundation is the 9th largest pharmaceutical producer in the country and has had commercial relations with Cuba for the past 16 years.
Havana, October 16 (RHC)-- Yemen's ambassador to Cuba, Abdulla Abdul Elah praised Cuba's cooperation in the health and education sectors on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of that nation's Revolution and the 36th of its armed struggle against British colonialism.
During a rally held in the Republic of Yemen Junior High School located in Havana province, Cuban authorities reiterated their willingness to continue historic cooperation with Yemen and thanked the Arab nation for its international support for the self determination of the Cuban people and against Washington's blockade against the island.
Havana, October 9 (RHC)-- A two day International workshop entitled "Child Surgery in the Caribbean on the threshold of the 21st Century", wound up on Thursday in y Havana's William Soler Pediatric Hospital.
Child cardiologists from Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba as well as Mexico and Paraguay, reaffirmed their intentions to improve the sector. Dr. David Brati of Trinidad and Tobago stressed the advances of Cuban medicine and added that Cuban cardiocenters have the capability to treat many Caribbean patients with heart problems.
During the event, Paraguayan Dr. Norma Astigarraga, proposed creating a Latin American cardiology network.
Havana, October 7 (RHC)-- Cuba's bio-pharmaceutical laboratory, LABIOFAM, has delivered over 60 tons of veterinary medicines and vaccines to the country's cattle ranchers in an effort to deal with and prevent epidemics arising from the effects of Hurricane Georges.
Local sources indicate that LABIOFAM laboratories which produce 95 per cent of the island's veterinary medicines, are working extra hours to get out the necessary medications which are valued at some 350 thousand dollars.
Havana, October 2 (RHC)-- The Caribbean Medical Association, will sponsor an event October 7 and 8 in Havana dedicated to cardiology in children . The conference will be held in Havana's William Soler Pediatric Hospital.
In "Pediatric Cardiology in the Caribbean on the Threshold of the 21st Century", Cuba will offer its experience in the field of Cardiology in children. The island has dramatically reduced the infant mortality rate among infants with heart problems.
Issues to be discussed are the situation of rheumatic fever in Jamaica, a program for the prevention and control of that disease and the development of Cuba's Health Ministry.
Havana, October 1 (RHC) A Cuban medical brigade is currently working in the city of Vicente Noble some 180 kilometers southeast of the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo.
The area was reportedly hard hit by Hurricane Georges, whose torrential rains caused the Yaque del Sur River and San Juan Rivers to flood their banks.
The Cuban medical brigade's main task in the Dominican Republic is to give medical aid to people living in the area which was heavily damaged by floods which have created dangerous mud slides.
The medical brigade will give free vaccines and distribute pharmaceutical products to the poor. The Cuban medical professionals also took with them an electrical generator and two giant tents containing 10 beds each to be used as field hospitals.
The group, which is headed by Dr. Elias Chavez, the director of hospitals of Cuba's Health Ministry, includes an epidemiologist, general practitioners, specialists and surgeon
The Dominican Health Ministry has provided use of the Vicente Noble Hospital for both Cuban and Dominican doctors to attend patients injured in the Hurricane
Havana, September 30 (RHC)-- Cuban experts have exterminated some six million rats and mice, 70 per cent of the number estimated to be in La Paz, Bolivia, using a biological poison. The excellent results have reportedly surprised municipal authorities.
Statistics show that in La Paz, which has a population of a million , there were 10 to 12 rats per person. According to Bolivian health official, Nicanor Joy, there are an some 2 to 3 weeks left in the city's anti- rat campaign .
Cuba's "Biorat", is deadly for rats but not dangerous for humans. Biorat is made of rice husks and with a strong cheese smell added to attract rodents. It is effective year- round and maintains its deadly properties while frozen in storage for up to a year .
According Bolivian authorities, the anti- rat campaign has been so successful that they will continue using the Cuban product twice a year nationwide.
Special Edition: Friday, October 2nd 1998
Havana- The Cuban Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs), have contributed 569,981 blood donations to the island's blood banks -- a new record. The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution is the island's largest grassroots organization.
The number of blood donations is 9,865 more than projected for the current period, which runs from October last year to September 1998. According to CDR activists, in 1997 the organization reached the World Health Organization's goal for the year 2000 -- one blood donation for every 20 inhabitants - - a goal set for developed countries. Today, one out of every 19.3 Cubans has given a blood donation. Since the voluntary blood donation drive sponsored by the grassroots organization began in 1962, the CDRs have donated over 8 million 806,284 donations. The quality of the donated blood is not only supported by the Cuban people's good health indexes but also by doctors and nurses, as well as rigorous tests for syphilis or HIV 1 and 2. Re-agents for those tests are provided by the Cuban Immunoassay Center. The Medicine Quality Control Center also regulates the activity.
The security of the testing process is such that the World and Pan American Health Organizations have asked Cuba to advise other Third World nations on the issue. Cuba has not imported blood derivatives since 1982.
Havana- Recently graduated medical doctors will be joining the ranks of the Family Doctor Program in the Province in Havana. The Family Doctor Program -- the backbone of Cuba's preventive medicine system -- has been credited with the preservation of Cuba's internationally recognized health indexes, despite adverse economic conditions. With the new 291 medical doctors assigned to work in the Province of Havana, 92 percent of the province's residents will be covered by the Program.
The physicians will undergo a familiarization course with the tasks they will develop, mostly at work centers, boarding schools, day care centers and at medical posts in the province's remote rural areas. According to health care authorities, within two years, the province of Havana will have 100 percent of its population attended by the Family Doctor Program, when the local Medicine Faculty graduates 400 new doctors.
But while authorities make efforts to provide adequate health care to all Cubans, non-transmissible diseases are rating as the prime factors of death on the island. According to an official study released in Havana by the island's Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute and the National Statistics Office, non- transmissible diseases as a result of hypertension, smoking, alcohol consumption and lack of exercise are the principal causes of death in Cuba.
The report reveals that in 1995, those afflictions were responsible for 77 percent of deaths on the island. In Cuba, the principal causes of death are heart disease, cancer, stroke, accidents, diabetes melitis and asthma. The head of the study team, Mariano Bonet, said that though more than 50 percent of those questioned said they would like to give up smoking, Cubans are picking up the habit at an ever younger age. Investigators note that some 45.2 of those polled in Havana consume alcohol, with that number rising to 50 percent between the ages of 20 and 40.
Havana, September 28, (RHC) A medical brigade from Cuba has arrived in the Dominican Republic to help the victims of Hurricane George. The brigade, comprised of 13 Cuban medical specialists and technicians, arrived today with medicines and vaccinations in the city of Barahona, some 200 kilometers southwest of the capital Santo Domingo. They have vowed to remain in the Dominican Republic as long as necessary.
Meanwhile, the death toll in this neighboring Caribbean nation has reached 203 people killed, and is still expected to rise. Official government figures place at 75 the number of disappeared, but independent estimates indicated that hundreds of Dominicans are still unaccounted for. As of Sunday, some 300 thousand people remained in shelters.
Though some aid has reached some of the victims, tens of thousands are reportedly remain without any aid in a situation termed as desperate - surrounded by stench, mud and insects, with people still on the roofs of their flooded homes. Over the weekend, media outlets reported the death by starvation of 6 people in Barahona Province.
There are also reports of an outbreak of a conjunctivitis epidemic in several refuge centers, while children are experiencing gastro intestinal diseases. 40 percent of the country's health care centers were affected by the hurricane, making more difficult the treatment of victims. Health specialists are predicting the appearance of other epidemics like malaria and dengue fever.
A group of business associations has suggested that the government temporarily suspend payment of the country's foreign debt to earmark those funds for the victims. It's estimated that Hurricane George caused damage at least to the tune of one billion 200 million dollars, more than 25 percent of the Dominican Republic's foreign debt.
Havana, September 24 (RHC)-- Cuba was elected member of the Executive Committee of the Pan-American Health Organization during the 25th general assembly of that institution in Washington, D.C.
Cuba's Health Minister, Carlos Dotres said that the overwhelming vote in favor of Cuba is a significant manifestation of the support of Latin American and Caribbean nations.
Dr. Dotres also stressed that the vote is recognition of Cuba's national healthcare policy, and a gesture of solidarity and cooperation with the countries of the continent.
Havana, September 24 (RHC)-- The National Center for the Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS will be inaugurated December 1st in Cuba.
The Center will instruct young people on the risks of sexually transmitted diseases and how to avoid contracting them.
Director of the new institution, Rosaida Ochoa, told the press that the idea for the center came out of the need to prioritize the fight against sexually transmitted diseases and to train the island's health personnel.
The National Center for the Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS has the technical and financial support of the international humanitarian organization, Doctors Without Borders.
Havana, September 17(RHC)-- Cuba will increase its forests to 27 percent of its total land surface by the year 2000, according to Cuban Deputy Agriculture Minister Fidel Ramos. The official made the statement at the Second Cuban Forestry Congress that wound up Thursday in Havana.
The deputy vice minister said that this is part of the island's forestry strategy, in line with Agenda 21. Ramos noted that the island's reforestation efforts over the past four decades have raised the area of natural forests on the island to more than 240 million hectares.
Havana, September 17(RHC)-- The Cuban government and the United Nations World Food Program have signed a letter of intent in the Cuban capital to begin the implementation of an emergency aid program in the island's five eastern provinces. The area has been hard hit by a severe drought over the last few months.
Under the agreement, the World Food Program will provide nearly 21 million dollars to buy 34,000 tons of food for the health and education sectors in the eastern provinces of Las Tunas, Holguin, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo. The accord will benefit some 615,000 people.
During the signing ceremony, Cuba's Minister of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Ibrahim Ferradaz said that the UN aid will complement the Cuban government's efforts to ease the effects of the drought in the eastern provinces. He added that the cooperation by the World Food Program was organized quickly and efficiently.
The first operation by the UN World Food Program in Cuba was implemented after Hurricane Flora swept across the island in 1962. Since then, it has implemented 11 emergency and eight cooperation programs on the island. The World Food Program will begin distributing food in October, following the importation of rice, vegetable oil, flour and canned fish
New York, September 18(RHC)-- Cuba has denounced the current globalization process sweeping the world, calling it "selective and discriminatory." Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, Dr. Carlos Dotres, Cuba's Minister of Public Health, stated that the economic process has thrown an enormous part of the world into misery.
The Cuban representative to a special UN session on the economic, political and social impact of globalization, pointed out that the underdeveloped countries of Africa are a prime example of the unjust nature of neo-liberalism. Dotres emphasized that while industrialized nations benefit from the plunder of the African continent, the people of Africa are only given limited humanitarian aid to deal with massive hunger, drought or when wars break-out.
During his address to the special UN General Assembly session, Dr. Carlos Dotres said that although statistics show a certain economic growth in some regions of the Third World, in reality there are immense segments of the population where life below the poverty line is a daily reality.
The Cuban minister of public health noted that the enormous disparity between the industrialized North and the impoverished South is demonstrated by the fact that more than 500 million people do not live beyond the age of 40, 800 million lack access to health care and 17 million die each year from such curable diseases as diarrhea or tuberculosis.
Havana.- The 5th international congress of sports medicine, psychology and trauma will be held at Havana's "Frank Pais" hospital October 5-9. The progress of the sports in the island in which the doctors and researchers' work plays an remarkable role makes it possible for Cuba to gather outstanding specialists of the world in this meeting to exchange views and results for a bigger progress in the field. Prince Alexander de Merode, chairman of the medical commission of the International Olympic Committee is among the visitors.
Havana, September 8 (RHC)-- 76 percent of Cuban mothers breast feed their babies until the children are four months old, according to Cuban health authorities. That puts the island close to the proposal of the World Children's Summit that countries should reach 80 percent by the year 2000.
Mother's milk has been found to be the best nourishment and medicine for newborns contributing greatly to the child's overall health. In the early 1990's breast feeding in Cuba until the fourth month of life was only at 25 percent, but thanks to an initiative put forward by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund Unicef, hospitals that promoted breast feeding were declared Mother and Child Friendly Hospitals.
The Mother and Child Friendly hospital drive became a national health program on the island which has been extended to Cuba's family doctor and nurse offices as well as in the homes of new mothers. Mother's milk immunizes the child against several diseases including diarrhea, a big killer of children in the Third World.
Havana, September 8 (RHC)-- An anonymous and confidential AIDS and Venereal Disease Hotline is operating in Cuba to provide information on sexually transmitted diseases and the
HIV virus and AIDS. The service, called "Lineayuda", or help on the line, was set up by the Cuban Health Ministry in close cooperation with Holland's Doctors without Borders
humanitarian organization. The aim of the hotline is to re-enforce education and promote prevention
Havana, September 8 (RHC)-- The Health Minister from the southern Spanish region of Andalucia, Jose Luis Garcia, has arrived in Cuba for an official visit scheduled to end on Sunday. The visitor brought with him a donation to be presented to Cuban medical centers.
During his stay on the island, Garcia will visit pediatric hospitals and scientific research centers. He will also meet with Havana health authorities and with those from other areas.
Havana, September 1(RHC)-- Cuba is increasing the number of its innovative senior day centers, or Casas de los Abuelos. The institutions, of which there are now 70 island-wide, offer complete daytime services to seniors, including geriatric health care. The centers -- often housed in lovely house and even mansions -- offer cultural activities, meals, medical care, outings and companionship to older Cubans who either need supervision or who simply like to get out of the house during the day.
Having a pleasant and secure place to leave elderly family members for eight house during the day allows many Cubans to work and go to school without worrying about their loved ones. It also gives retired Cubans the opportunity to get together with their peers for a game of dominoes or cards or to form singing and drama groups, to learn crafts and other skills and to attend concerts, movie screenings and a variety of other events.
On Monday, Cuban Health Minister Dr. Carlos Dotres inaugurated the island's 70th senior day center in the town of Nuevitas, located in the eastern province of Camaguey. Dr. Dotres praised the institution but noted that there are still problems plaguing the elderly in Cuba, including a shortage of medicines.
ROME, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The U.N. food aid agency appealed to the international community on Tuesday for $20.5 million to provide food for Cubans hit by shortages caused by the worst drought in decades in the east of the island.
The Rome-based World Food Programme (WFP) said more than 600,000 people in Cuba's five eastern provinces were in need of emergency aid for the nine months until the next harvest in May.
``These people need help and they need it as soon as possible. The situation is worsening and it is clear thecountry confronts a serious shortfall in food,'' WFP executive director Catherine Bertini said in a statement.
``In the absence of a generous response from the international community, the vulnerable population in Cubafaces malnutrition and will become weaker and more susceptible to illness,'' Bertini added.
WFP said it was also seeking help from the private sector, corporations and Cuban communities living abroad. The appeal was based on findings of a U.N. mission to Cuba which showed that a second year of abnormal weather, blamed on the El Nino phenomenon, had caused crop losses expected to total 608,562 tonnes, the WFP said. livestock losses had so far come to just over 4,000 tonnes of meat and 6.2 million litres of milk.
Drought and high temperatures hampered planting from May to October 1997, usually the period of heaviest rainfall. The drought continued except for a period of tropical storms that caused flooding and damage between November and April this year, the agency said.
Parts of Guantanamo province received only 10 percent of normal rainfall while Holguin province recorded its driest April since 1941. Rainfall was 22 percent of the normal level in Las Tunas province and less than 40 percent in Granma and Santiago de Cuba provinces.
WFP aid, consisting of rice, beans, vegetable oil, canned fish and wheat flour, will be distributed alongside subsidised rations provided by the Cuban government.
Bertini said food aid would be targeted at children under five, primary and secondary school pupils, pregnant and nursing women, the disabled and the elderly.
Havana, August 25(RHC)-- Cuban health authorities say the drought affecting the island's five eastern provinces have caused no health problems among the population. Speaking to reporters in Havana on Tuesday, Public Health Deputy Minister Jorge Delgado Bustillo reported on a fact-finding mission to the area. From August 18th through 21st, a team of experts made on-site evaluations of the epidemiologic-hygienic situation of approximately four million inhabitants, which are suffering from an acute water shortage. In such circumstances, Bustillo stated, digestive's tract illnesses are likely to occur. However, swift action by the island's authorities to the climatic difficulty has avoided an epidemic outbreak. According to the public health official, water chloride is guaranteed and a special shipment of anti-diarrhea medications has been delivered to the provinces. So far, there has been no need to resort to the medications. Meteorologists say that Holguin province is the most affected by the drought, followed by Las Tunas, Guantanamo, Granma and Santiago de Cuba.
Havana- Expanding collaboration between Cuba and South Africa in the field of medical research was the main issue discussed in Pretoria by Cuban Health Minister Carlos Dotres and medical personnel from the South African Tropical Medicine Center. Both parties expressed their interest in promoting a closer relationship between South African medical institutions and the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute in Havana. The Cuban health minister, who is heading a delegation to South Africa, told reporters that Cuba's assistance to the African nation in the area of health is an example of selfless support and solidarity. Health Minister Carlos Dotres and his accompanying delegation was welcomed to Pretoria by his South African counterpart, Nkozasana Zuma, which whom he discussed aspects of bilateral collaboration.
Havana- The Second International Cuisine Festival will be held at Varadero's Convention Center from the 15th through the 20th of September with the participation some 900 foreign experts and over one thousand Cuban specialists. During the event, nearly 30 countries will be represented - the largest from Italy and Peru. Renowned cooks and personalities are also planning to attend. According to the organizers, a workshop will be held where issues like cultural identity, evolution and culinary development will be discussed.
Havana, July 13(RHC)-- At the end of the first six months of this year, Cuba's infant mortality rate dropped to 7.3 per one thousand live births -- compared to 7.5 during the same period last year.
Cuba's Health Minister Carlos Dotres told reporters that despite the positive results, major efforts will be made this year to confront diarrhea and respiratory problems which increase during the summer months.
Villa Clara was the province with the lowest infant mortality rate -- set at 4.8 per one thousand live births -- followed by eastern Granma province with 5.4 and central Camaguey weighing in at 6.3.
According to epidemiologist Dr. Norma Martinez, the key factor in this achievement has been the collective work of experts and other health personnel in the field. She explained that congenital problems continue being the main causes of death in children under one year of age on the island.
Dr. Martinez pointed out that the maternal mortality rate on the island continues to be one of the lowest in the world, with perspectives to continue improving.
Geneva, July 2(RHC)-- Scientists from Havana's Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center have presented two studies at the 12th World Conference on AIDS, underway in Geneva, Switzerland. The studies show the results of tests using a vaccine developed on the island against HIV. Cuban researchers Antonieta Herrera and Carlos Duarte told participants at the conference that following successful animal testing, the vaccine will soon be ready for human candidates. Only six countries -- the United States, France, England, Switzerland, Japan and Cuba -- have tested a total of 15 vaccines, carrying out over 30 clinical trials using various technologies. Another issue on the event's agenda is the inaccessibility of the latest and most advanced therapies for AIDS patients, given their extremely high cost, and the cold reception given by transnational pharmaceutical companies to the issue of accessibility.
The document focuses on globalization as a characteristic of today's world and ways in which it affects underdeveloped countries, pointing to the widening gap between rich and poor. It also focuses on reform processes in the health sector in order achieve equity, something that has been impossible with traditional health care systems.
Health, poverty and development was another aspect of the Final Declaration. It emphasizes that health care should become a central element for development and that sustainable health care systems should be organized and developed to satisfy the needs of the poor.
The Final Declaration of the 23rd Meeting of Health Ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement stresses the need to improve technical cooperation and the development of national and international strategies, with the implementation of plans of action. The declaration urges the international community to guarantee that public health --more than commercial interests -- be a priority in health care.
The meeting of health ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement concluded Friday evening here in Havana. Cuban President Fidel Castro addressed delegates at the closing ceremony, condemning wasteful spending on weapons of destruction and calling for greater investment in health care. The Cuban leader compared public with private medical care, characterizing private care as "medicine for the rich."
Havana, June 22(RHC)-- Cuba will be the site of the 23rd Meeting of Health Ministers from Non-Aligned Countries. This is the first time such a gathering takes place outside the framework of a World Health Organization meeting.
The event, which will take place at Havana's Convention Center June 25th and 26th, will be inaugurated by Cuban Minister of Public Health, Dr. Carlos Dotres. Also participating in the opening ceremony will be Hiroshi Nakajima, outgoing Director General of the World Health Organization (the WHO).
Representatives from 66 countries have confirmed their participation -- over half of them health ministers. Representatives from Nigeria, Seychelles, Lebanon, Syria, Korea, Zimbabwe and Colombia are already in Cuba, while officials from Vietnam, Niger, Laos and Malaysia are expected to arrive later today. Other arrivals are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Delegates participating in the 23rd Meeting of Health Ministers from Non-Aligned Countries will deal with issues related to three main themes: Reforms in the Health Sector; Health for All; and Technical Cooperation Between Countries.
The meeting's main objective will be to discuss challenges in the health sector as the world approaches the 21st century, with an emphasis on neo-liberal policies geared to privatizing health care.
May 21 Havana- Cuban Health Minister Carlos Dotres praised the results of the Second Hispanic-American Symposium on Medical Teleconferencing which has concluded in Havana. During the closing ceremony in the Cuban capital, the health minister thanked the Hispanic-American Research Association and Telecommunications Company for having selected Cuba as host nation. After recognizing that technology will help to strengthen the health sector, the Cuban official stressed that communications will never substitute the need for solidarity in the practice of medical science. Among the many issues discussed during the symposium, experts from 25 countries paid special attention to the use of medical teleconferences in various countries, including Cuba and Norway.
June 19, 1998 Eastern HAVANA - The Ukraine government thanked Cuba on Friday for treating thousands of its children affected by radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
``Ukraine is very grateful for all that Cuba has done for the children of my country,'' Health Minister Andrei Serdiuk said at a meeting in Cuba of an inter-governmental commission between Kiev and Havana.
He praised the ``highly qualified'' treatment given by Cuban doctors to some 13,170 Ukrainian youngsters, known locally as the ``Chernobyl children,'' who have been coming here for medical attention since the April 1986 accident at the nuclear plant.
The children form the bulk of about 17,550 people from the former Soviet Union affected by Chernobyl fall-out who have been treated in communist-run Cuba, according to officials of Cuba and Ukraine.
Both nations pledged to continue the medical cooperation, and to try to restore the strong trade links they had prior to the Soviet collapse.
JOHANNESBURG, (June 18, 1998) AIA/GIN - The South African government has decided to send black students to train as doctors in Cuba to ease the current shortage, especially in the rural areas.
Under an agreement with the Cuban government, 52 students would train in Cuba for six years. Upon completion, the young doctors would be deployed to outlying areas where the patient doctor ratio is as high as one to 20,000.
Currently, Cuban doctors are serving in most South African rural health centers.
The move has been opposed by deans of South African universities who feel that the money spent on the Cuban program could have been used locally, training 156 potential doctors. Of the 22,000 medical doctors in South Africa today, only 3,000 are black.
Most of the white graduates left the country soon after completing their studies.
The government is unhappy with the number of black medical graduates produced by the country's eight medical schools.
Havana- Cuba has complied with the World Health Organization's goal of eradicating leprosy before the year 2000. According to the Cuban Health Ministry, the total number of leprosy patients on the island is less than one of every 10,000 inhabitants. Cuba recently eliminated German measles and is currently applying a therapeutic program introduced by the WHO with a highly-effective medication that cures leprosy when it is diagnosed early.
Havana- Cuban Vice President Juan Almeida met with the visiting Foreign Minister of Botswana, Mompati Merafhe, who heads his country's delegation to the 5th Joint Inter-governmental Commission with Cuba. During the commission's session, the African leader and Cuba's Foreign Trade Minister Ricardo Cabrisas signed a bilateral agreement. Both sides agreed to work in strengthening bilateral cooperation. Cuba maintained its commitment to continue with the health collaboration to this African nation. Cuba currently has 13 medical specialists and 63 nurses in Botswana. The Caribbean nation has 63 professors, including kindergarten teachers. The Vice President of Cuban Foreign Investment and Economic Collaboration Noemi Benitez told Granma newspaper that the sixth session of the Joint Inter-governmental Commission will take place in Gaberone, Botswana in the year 2000.
Havana, February 16(RHC)-- A Cuban vaccine against leptospirosis will soon be introduced by Cuba, after satisfactory laboratory results and tests on more than a quarter million people.
The vaccine's final approval is only pending efficacy tests that will determine its protection capacity. Those tests have already begun in Villa Clara province, in central Cuba, where health authorities have announced that the preparation will be administered to 75,000 people, ranging in age from 20 to 64 years.
Leptospirosis is transmitted by rodents, especially mice. The disease causes high fever and vomiting and can be fatal if not treated quickly. In some Latin American countries, it has acquired epidemic proportions.
The Cuban anti-leptospirosis vaccine is being developed by the Havana-based Finlay Institute. Tests connected with the vaccine have involved volunteers from the five Cuban provinces most affected by the disease.
Local production of an anti-leptospirosis vaccine will allow Cuba not only to substitute its importation but also to export some amounts abroad.
Feb 11, 1998: Havana- Cuba's Minister of Public Health, Doctor Carlos Dotres, told journalists in the Colombian capital that the island's achievements in the field of health have aroused great interest among participants at the 21st Meeting of Health Ministers of the Andean region, which opened Thursday in Bogota. Cuba is attending the Andean Health Summit as an observer. The group is formed by Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela -- nations that, according to the Cuban official, would like to develop their links with the island in the field of health. During his visit to Bogota, the Cuban health minister will meet with his Colombian counterpart, Maria Teresa Forero, and will exchange experiences with other ministers present at the encounter.
Havana- A new formula to cure vitiligo -- a skin disorder manifested by white spots on various parts of the body -- has been produced at the laboratories of Havana's Histotherapy Center. The formula uses melagenine -- a substance extracted from human placenta -- and consists of a lotion that is applied once-a-day. The application eliminates the need to expose the affected area to infrared light or sunshine. The new preparation will revolutionize current treatments for the disease, which causes patients to progressively lose the color of their skin in 1997, 2200 patients across the island received the services of the Havana center, while 770 patients from 55 countries also received the treatment. Likewise, doctors from around the world have received training at the center.
Havana- The Cuban Hotel and Tourism Workers Union donated one million dollars from tips for the island's health care system. This is part of the union's "My Contribution to Life" program, aimed at making donations to health care, primarily to cancer treatment for children. In 1996, workers donated 882,000 dollars to the program. In a recent interview, the head of the Cancer Pediatrics Services at the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology, Dr. Jesus Reno, stated that there are nearly 300 new cases of cancer reported every year in Cuba -- 70 to 80 percent of which are treated in his institution. Dr. Reno said that worker's donations and the Cuban government's contributions have helped increase the survival rate of children suffering from cancer. He added that tourism workers are going above and beyond the call of duty, since there's another contribution they make to maintain clean wards as well as to organize collective birthdays among hospitalized children.
Havana- A group of children suffering from brain paralysis and autism have been put under dolphin-assisted therapeutic treatment in the eastern province of Holguin. At present, two cases experiencing positive rehab process have been reported so far: a paralysis-stricken child who has started to give his first steps and a girl affected by autism who has been able to establish a brand new different demeanor.
Havana- A group of 42 South Africans arrived in the Cuban capital to begin medical studies in the central cities of Santa Clara and Sancti Spiritus. The newly arrived medical students will join another group of 12 South African students who began introductory Spanish classes this week. South African Health Ministry spokesman Vincent Hlongwane said the students were selected from rural areas. Meanwhile, a contingent of 69 Cuban doctors arrived in Pretoria, the South African capital, to work in hospitals in East Cape provinces, Orange Free State and Gauteng. Several hundred Cuban doctors have worked in that country over the past few years as part of a bilateral cooperation agreement. The doctors usually work in the country's rural areas.
Brussels, January 28(RHC)-- Belgium's Economy and Foreign Trade Minister, J. Chabert, presented the Golden Cup to Cuban researcher Manuel Selman-Housein Sosa. The award was made at the 46th Innovation, Research and New Technologies Fair -- Eureka Brussels 97'.
Selman-Housein is a researcher at Havana's Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center and one of the discoverers of a protein -- the P64k -- which has opened the way to developing new vaccines, including one against cancer. The Cuban discovery received second place among 759 exhibitors from 40 countries. The event's jury also granted two gold medals to the Cuban researcher.
The P64k protein is currently being used in a vaccine against Meningitis B -- and is now being tested in humans. It is also being used in a candidate vaccine against cancer.
The jury of the Eureka Fair took into consideration the social and economic impact of the patents presented in the fair, their creativeness and presentation. The patents for the P64k protein have already been granted to the United States, Europe, Australia, India and Argentina. Among the countries testing the P64k protein are Japan, Canada, Finland, Norway, Russia, Israel and Chile.
Havana, January 20(RHC)-- Cuban scientists are carrying out clinical tests on a vaccine against breast cancer -- a disease on the rise in the world. The head of the Cuba Breast Cancer Program, Dr. Rolando Camacho, stated that the vaccine obtained by the Cuban experts is used as an immunological treatment method to control the ailment.
The scientific team taking part in the clinical studies hopes that the product will activate the affected women's immunological system to fight the development of cancerous tumors.
Havana, January 6(RHC)-- Cuba ended 1997 with an infant mortality rate of 7.1 per 1000 live births -- the lowest in the country's history. The record figure was attributed to the hard work of more than 300,000 health workers involved in the mother-child program across the island, family doctors, gynecologists, obstetricians, nurses and other health experts.
Cuba has been reducing its infant mortality rate in recent years, despite the economic crisis triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist countries and the tightening of the U.S. economic blockade.
In 1989, before the beginning of the crisis, the island registered an infant mortality rate of 11.2 per 1000 live births. Two years later -- in 1991 -- that health indicator had dropped to 10.7. By 1995, infant mortality had further decreased to 9.4 deaths per 1000 live births.
Cuba also stands among the 25 top nations of the world regarding infant mortality -- from birth to five years of age -- with an average of only nine deaths per one thousand children annually... a figure that in some Third World countries reaches up to 88.
Havana, Nov. 26th (RHC) -- In Havana, the director of the World Health Organization, Doctor Hiroshi Nakajima, has called on other nations to follow the example and experience of Cuba in the development of an integral health care system.
Speaking before the 6th International Seminar on Primary Health Care, Nakajima said that especially those countries whose health care systems are trapped in a process of deterioration should carefully study the Cuban experience and the reasons why Cuba has had so much success. He said top among those reasons has been the political commitment of the Cuban government.
The WHO director said Cuba planned an all-embarking infrastructure and health system that guarantees free and universal access to its services, from the family doctor to highly specialized attention comparable -- and in many cases superior -- to those existing in developed nations.
Doctor Nakajima also asserted that health reforms are too frequently based on spending cutbacks aimed at saving. This, he said, runs the risk of defining efficiency only in monetary terms, while forgetting social equity. The director of the World Health Organization also recognized what he called Cuba's noteworthy efforts to reform its own health care system, in line with the island's recent macroeconomic measures, without jeopardizing human equity and solidarity.
OCTOBER 31 , 1996 JOHANNESBURG.- South African President Nelson Mandela welcomed in Cape Town Cuban Health Minister Carlos Dotres, who is paying an official visit to that African nation. Mandela conveyed his appreciation for the historic cooperation his people has received from Cuba and for the cooperation being provided through over 200 Cuban doctors who are working in rural areas and poor neighborhoods in the country. Dotres also met with Vice President Thabo Mbeki, and signed with his South African counterpart a protocol of intention expressing both parties' wish to explore other areas to expand cooperation in the health sector.
AUGUST 12, 1997 HAVANA.- The Botswana Health Minister, Doctor Jackson Butale, began a working visit to Cuba to get to know how the Cuban health system works and discuss bilateral ties in the field. His 4-day agenda includes visits to Havana's Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital, the Pedro Kouri Institute and several levels of the local primary health care system. Butale said that bilateral relations in the field could be further strengthened.
AUGUST 9, 1997 HAVANA.- Some 1,500 family clinics have received the "Friend of the Mother and Child" certificate by provincial Health Commissions. Deputy Health Minister, Doctor Luis Cordova Vargas, commented on the rising number of these offices attached to that national program, an initiative by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. 76,6 percent of Cuban children left hospitals in 1996 enjoying the benefits of breast feeding, the highest rate in Latin America.
NOVEMBER 24, 1997 HAVANA.- The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Doctor Sir George Alleyne, said that he has had a "favorable impression" of his Sunday tour of several leading hospitals in Havana. Doctor Alleyne visited a polyclinic, a family doctor's clinic, a "Senior Citizens Club" and a maternity hospital. Another prominent visitor to Havana is the Director of World Health Organization, Doctor Hiroshi Nakayima from Japan, who was invited by Cuban Public Health Minister Carlos Dotres.
December 10 (RHC)-- More South Africans Will Study Medicine In Cuba
Havana, South African Health Minister Ayanda Tsaluba says another 40 South Africans will study medicine in Cuba beginning next school year. The scholarships are included in agreements signed by the two countries. The South Africans will study in Sancti Spiritus province, where ten South African students are in their first year of medical studies.
The South African deputy health minister is in Cuba, heading a team of experts in charge of selecting the fourth group of Cuban doctors who will work in South Africa beginning next January.
Other sanitary campaigns were developed after those and they made up the official vaccination plan in the country. It comprises: antipoliomielitic vaccine, the triple, BBG (against tuberculosis), the viral triple (protecting against goiter, German measles and measles). There is also the duple (it immunizes against diphtheria and tetanus), the antitific one (against typhus) and the toxoid one(against tetanus). Since 1993 all newborns are immunized against hepatitis B with the high efficiency Cuban vaccine Hiperbiovac HB.
Polio, diphtheria, neonatal tetanus, tuberculous meningitis, the autochthonous malaria and human hydrophobia were eliminated. Since 1989 the serious complications related to the congenital German measles syndrome and the meningoencephalitis after parotiditis were eradicated. It has been reduced in 93 % the meningococcic meningitis group B cases, due to massive vaccinations since 1988 and neither German measles, nor tetanus or parotiditis (goiters) are health problems.
About the middle of 1996, Cuba was declared measles free after immunizing campaign started in 1971. Before that year about ten thousand and fifteen thousand cases occurred annually.
It is established and compulsory for each citizen traveling to foreign countries to be protected with the plan guided by the International Sanitary Control.
A large part of those diseases no longer exists in the country due to the extraordinary effort accomplished by the State, with the support of the Revolution Defense Committees (CDR) and other mass organizations that, guided by the Ministry of Public Health, actively work in popular mobilizations toward vaccination centers.
CubaNews, Oct.13, 1997
Havana, October 13(RHC)-- The consolidation of teaching methods, research and the latest breakthroughs of medical science is the focus of an international congress that kicked off Monday in Havana.
Over the next four days, foreign and local experts will discuss current medical and scientific teaching methods. Running parallel to the congress is a symposium on recent medical research on arteriosclerosis, stress, immunotherapy and cancer, biotechnology applied to medicine in Cuba and results of a Cuban-made device for blood certification and the diagnosis of new borne babies.
Topping the event's agenda is the development and evaluation of recombinant vaccines against hepatitis B, AIDS, meningitis and immunogenetic studies in special situations.
The 1st International Medical Science Congress will commemorate the 35th anniversary of the foundation of the first Cuban medical school. Havana's School of Medicine has a total registration of some 6000 students -- enrolled in the studies of general medicine, stomatology, health technology and nursing. More than 3000 teachers staff the island's ten medical schools, which are affiliated with the medical institution in the capital, Havana.
October 7, 1997
HAVANA.- The immunization of children from 1st to 3rd grade and high school students in October will mean the completion of the Hepatitis-B vaccination program for 1998. Local health care authorities will ensure the immunization of the entire population under 20 years of age to achieve the long-term eradication of liver cancer and other consequences of Hepatitis-B, says a report in Granma daily. Cuba's recombinant vaccine --produced in the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology-- has proved effective in fighting this virus since 1991.
Kampala- Cuba and Uganda will jointly produce antibiotics which will benefit the entire continent of Africa. In Kampala, the Ugandan capital, Cuba and Uganda have set up the first joint venture in the health sector. Cuba's LABIOFAM Pharmaceutical S.A. will work together with Ugandan firms to produce Cuban-made antibiotics and other medicines. It was also announced that the construction of laboratories will soon begin in Uganda. Representatives of the joint venture told reporters that they plan to have an exhibit of Cuban-manufactured pharmaceuticals at the Kampala International Fair, slated to begin October 8th.
Havana- Cuban scientists are producing advanced neurosurgical equipment, qualitatively competing with those of industrialized nations. Cuba's Neurological Restoration Center -- CIREN -- and the Immunoassay Center have joined in the development and production of state-of-the-art equipment used in brain surgery. The Cuban-made equipment allowing access to inner structures of the brain -- areas that have never been reached before -- has expanded the limitations of equipment currently in use, while maintaining an attractive design, versatility and simplicity. In essence, the Cuban-developed system is a complex, mechanical and highly-precise system, consisting of a frame that can be adjusted to the patient's head and a arch that is adjusted to the frame, containing an ample and heterogenous set of needles, clamps and other surgical tools.
The equipment is then connected to a final generation imagenologic system, powerful computers and software that can access deep, inner structures of the brain and therefore target the brain failure and restore it. The use of the Esterotaxic System has become common since 1947 in brain tumor surgeries, brain cysts, vascular malformations, the treatment of the Parkinson's disease, tremors caused by multiple sclerosis and epilepsy, among others.
By Julián Alvarez
Sr. Alvarez is a Cuban Health Care Professional
A recent article by Linda Robinson, published in U.S.News & World Reports, could become a classic piece of misrepresentation of incontrovertible facts related to Cuban science and health care.
The journalist attempts to present an "objective" approach to scientific development in Cuba.
It is possible for an experienced reader to recognize the genuine facts that characterize the Cuban sciences and which she herself enumerates:
Nevertheless, in the article, all these irrefutable facts are tinged with the clear intention of representing Cuba and the Cubans, our policies and our results, as an insurmountable paradox for U.S. citizens.
Robinson's focus is obviously based on paradigms of success in the United states (greater success means a better car and a larger house) that are not exactly ours (greater social recognition and pride in the achievements of our people). Therefore she highlights the fact that our scientists go to work by bus or bicycle and that '50s Plymouths are still on the streets of Havana, without even mentioning that Cuba's gross domestic product dropped abruptly by 34 percent when our trade and credit relations with the Soviet Union and the Eastern European countries disappeared along with socialism in those states. Nor is it stated that throughout these 38 years of Revolution, Cuba concentrated all its efforts on offering every citizen, and in particular every child, an all-encompassing, free and equitable public health system and educational opportunities up to the most advanced level, through a nationwide and likewise free educational system. Nor does it state that the remainder of our spending was devoted to creating sources of employment and humanizing agricultural work, and that we never fell into the mortal sin of the poor countries, of attempting to imitate the consumer society created as a model by the United States. Neither did we commit the error of pouring our scant resources into extravagant articles or the luxury cars that Robinson would have liked to see on our streets.
At times, the article attempts to portray as shameful things that are matters of pride for us, such as the ideas and orientations in relation to Cuban science consistently held by our president Fidel Castro. How can somebody criticize a president for that kind of interest? It's more than obvious that the journalist is seeking, unsuccessfully, for lines of attack, when she attempts to draw a simile between contemporary Cuba and the H.G. Wells novel The Island of Dr. Moreau.
Must we Cubans passively endure such offenses? How can scientists who have saved thousands of lives with their vaccines, medicines and equipment be compared with impunity to monsters emerging from fantastic tales? How can the Cuban head of state, whose strategic vision has allowed his country, as the journalist states, to "have a cadre of talented, highly trained scientists and modern facilities for developing new vaccines and drugs", be in any way compared to Dr. Moreau?
Throughout the entire article, there are attempts to slip in allusions that "claims for the efficacy of (Cuban) products are not backed up by acceptable trials." This obviously depends on the concept of acceptability. If Robinson means rigorous pre-clinical and clinical trials within the strictest measures of good practice, supervised by corresponding state agencies, well... that's what we do in Cuba. If the issue refers to our participation in the international health agencies that regulate and supervise these products, Cuba is an active member and it has been recognized that it meets those agencies' provisions in every way.
Proof of the responsible and safe handling of these products is that, contrary to repeated incidents in the United States, in Cuba there has never been a tragedy stemming from the use of medications that were poorly produced or inadequately researched, including blood derivatives, which have produced so many victims in the developed world (including the United States) because of negligence or a lack of certification of the blood utilized.
Added to Cuba's system of quality guarantees for its products is an element of which we can be rightly proud: the incorruptibility of our regulating agencies, something rarely seen in today's world.
Here are some statistics: Cuba's rate of meningococcal meningitis is 0,5 per 100,000 inhabitants, as a result of the inclusion of the Finlay Institute's meningitis BC vaccine in the national vaccination program; mortality from heart attacks in the emergency care system has been reduced by 13 percent through the administration of recombinant streptokinase, produced by the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center; rejection of transplanted organs was reduced considerably following the application of monoclonal antibodies for that purpose, produced by the Molecular Immunology Center.
The heart attack rate in high-risk groups has decreased as a result of the massive utilization of the anti-cholesterol medication PPG. Virtually no babies are born with congenital malformations, due to the national programs administered by the Ministry of Public Health, utilizing systems, equipment and reagents from the Immunoassay Center.
We could continue enumerating Cuba's scientific achievements, which are statistical realities of the country's health system and are acknowledged by the World Health Organization, however, other elements of the article, equally insidious, also deserve comment.
When journalist Tobinson discussed what we call health tourism, she mentioned the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa and the technology developed by Professor Orfilio Pelaez for its treatment, with the obvious goal of questioning the efficacy of the treatment. She does not refer specifically to Professor Pelaes' treatment, but to ophthalmological surgery to remedy the disease, which is not exactly what is done in Cuba. Why does she engage in this misrepresentation? Why give more weight to nonspecific opinions than to those of the thousands of patients who have improved their vision, or at the very least have halted the deterioration process of this terrible disease?
In one paragraph, the journalist talks about exorbitant prices and Cuban institutions "violating accepted procedures." All the innovative procedures we utilize in the Cuban medical field are offered free of charge to Cubans, and therefore, the primary objective of our scientific and medical community is to satisfy our people's needs. We are really not educated in the law of the market - that of selling at whatever cost - but instead concentrate on eliminating ills at whatever cost.
How could we "violate accepted procedures" in order to achieve this altruistic objective? Every treatment used on any foreigner in Cuba is already established medical practice in the country. That is axiomatic.
Ms. Robinson reserves an attack on the Cuban government for the end, based on statements by Ms. Molina, former member of the Ministry of the Interior, former secretary of the party Committee in the Neurology Institute in Havana, former deputy to the National Assembly. She apparently "sensed" the "evil" of he Revolution when she was replaced as director of the International Neurological Restoration Center (CIREN), due to her extreme ineptitude in organizing a scientific institution and because of the way she was poisoning relations with the country's other scientific institutions, as well as falsely projecting the image of faulty ethics in the medical and scientific activities carried out by that center.
It is known and it has been published, whether or not this interests Linda Robinson, that four years after Ms. Molina was replaced as CIREN director, we are still researching the transplant of embryonic mesencephalic cells, and this research has been approved by our top scientific agencies and the corresponding ethics committees. That technique, which is still experimental in nature, has only been used on Cubans and on two patients from other countries who insisted on being part of the protocol. All of these procedures have been done free of charge, as is logical in the experimental phase.
Starting in 1994, once Ms. Molina was replaced, CIREN assumed, in addition to international health services, the care of hospitalized Cubans. Thirty beds were designated for that purpose, and over 1000 patients have been treated there. Those patients are very satisfied with the care they received, flagrantly contradicting Ms. Robinson's insinuations regarding our government's alleged refusal to care for Cuban patients in our facilities.
Since March 1994, about 70 professionals in different disciplines have left CIREN, many of whom are now abroad, and they have left for diverse motives and interests. None of them have encountered obstacles in their attempts to leave the Center or leave the country. That was not the case in the times of Ms. Molina, who attempted, on all levels of government, to block any desire of this kind on the part of any worker from the Center. (The files contain numerous letters issued by Ms. Molina with this objective).
Finally, in an attempt to misrepresent, Ms. Robinson quotes Dr. Jorge Juncos, a prestigious neurologist at Emory University, attesting to the scientific excellence of our research into stereotaxic surgery, especially related to Parkinson's disease. She subtly places these statements between two paragraphs which allude to the insidious allegations offered up by the Center's former director, with the obvious intent of attributing to the latter the achievements mentioned by Dr. Juncos. But the fact is that only after Ms. Molina's exit from CIREN did Cuba begin holding an annual event with the participation of the world's greatest experts on Parkinson's disease and especially its treatment. These events have strengthened scientific ties and have generated joint research protocols whose most recent result is the realization of the first subthalamotomies in Cuba (still in the experimental phase) for the treatment of Parkinson's which represent an advance over the classical techniques utilized until now.
When Ms. Molina was replaced as director she was given an office for her scientific work, the possibility of continuing on as a surgeon and of continuing to participate as a full member of the institution's Scientific Council. As befits the conduct of the Revolution, she was never harassed or left out; on the contrary, she was given every personal consideration, even beyond what she deserved and despite her conduct at the helm of CIREN.
The image created in the article of policemen watching her front door can only be interpreted as a truculent tidbit aimed at deliberately twisting the truth.
The fact is that today the International Neurological Restoration Center is an institution with great international prestige, because of its research and results in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. This prestige also stems from its creation of a complete technology and procedures to stimulate neuroplasticity and recover important functions of the nervous system, restoring useful lives to thousands of people from all over the world who have been incapacitated by neurological disorders.
The Cuban scientific community, whose values are diametrically opposed to those which Ms. Robinson tries to exalt in her article, is not ashamed of getting to work by bus or bicycle, or of living through the same difficulties as the rest of our people when there is a shortage of soap or deodorant. We know that our personal merits and the satisfaction of living every day in a country without political corruption, without drugs, without poverty and without illiteracy fulfill our spiritual aspirations. We also share the conviction that our material well-being will be linked to that of our entire people, which will improve in line with our contribution to the national economy and to the solution of our country's major problems. We will help our country resist and overcome the almost all-powerful country which has not managed and will never manage to bring to its knees a people conscious of their duty and proud of their example.
Port of Spain- International interest in Cuban health programs continues to increase. Trinidad and Tobago's Health Minister, Hamza Raffeek, told journalists that his ministry hopes to put into practice some of the health programs successfully implemented in Cuba. During a news conference following his arrival from Havana, the health minister spoke highly of the quality of the Cuban health care system. Raffeek revealed plans to implement the community doctor's program in Trinidad and Tobago -- modeled after Cuba.
The program involves physicians living and working in the neighborhood, providing constant and steady care to their patients. In cases of specialized care, community doctors diagnose their patients and refer them to hospitals and clinics.
For senior citizens anywhere in the world, Cuba offers a specialized treatment facility that has had proven success in substantially improving the quality of life for the elderly.
Founded five years ago, the Ibero-American Center for the Elderly (CITED) is located in one of the pavilions of Havana's Calixto García Hospital. As well as a treatment facility, CITED is a reference center for the development of geriatrics and gerontology throughout Latin America.
Many thousands of Cubans, foreign residents and tourists from Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa have benefited from the techniques developed and applied by a multidisciplinary team of specialists, comprising highly skilled and experienced doctors and paramedics.
Care of the elderly has become a priority area for the Cuban Ministry of Public Health, due to the demographic changes which have taken place over recent years due to a decrease in the birth and mortality rates and an increase in life expectancy, which currently stands at 75 years.
Despite the high costs of geriatrics and gerontology in other parts of the world, CITED's services are provided free of charge to all Cuban citizens referred to the center by geriatric care facilities in other parts of the country or by family doctors. It also provides care for senior citizens living in the Havana municipalities served directly by Calixto García Hospital.
The fees for foreign patients are highly competitive on an international level. The cost for a complete check-up, for example, begins at 120 USD.
The center's programs encompass a wide spectrum of services geared to those seeking a longer, fuller life as they enter their sixth decade, ranging from clinical geriatrics, physical rehabilitation therapy, and general, endoscopic and cosmetic surgery, to treatment for sexual dysfunction, dentistry and revitalizing and restorative treatments.
CITED is fully equipped with the latest technology, allowing for the use of arthroscopic, gammagraphic and histological diagnostic testing and the application of ultrasound, computerized axial tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance, among other cutting-edge techniques, including ozone therapy.
An average of 60 to 70 patients are admitted to the center monthly, while another 500 are seen on an outpatient basis. As well as offering private accommodations for patients and companions with all of the comforts of a hotel, the fact that CITED is located within a teaching hospital complex allows for easy access to the specialized services provided by Calixto García Hospital.
The Ibero-American Center for the Elderly is one of the various Cuban scientific institutions promoted internationally by the Servimed health tourism agency. It is also a prestigious teaching facility, offering postgraduate and upgrading courses and programs for Cuban and foreign professionals. CITED's address is: Calle G y 27, Vedado, Havana. Telephone: (537)32-0335 and 33-3864. Fax: (537)33-3319.
Session # 3188 : Sanctions
Wednesday November 12 2:15 p.m.- 3:35 p.m.
Sponsor: Peace Caucus
Presider: Ann Behrman, MD
2:15: Eric Hoskins, MD, DrPH, MPH, FRCPC
2:35: Richard Gardfield, RN, DrPH
2:55: Cuba and the Embargo - Calen Frolkis
3:15: Discussion
Source: Cuban Interest Section September 10, 1997
Havana- Cuba will be the home for a children's heart surgery network to treat Latin American patients. The Heart Foundation -- an international, humanitarian organization based in Rome -- chose Cuba to host the network, in recognition of the island's achievements in children's heart surgery. The scientific network will be financially supported by the Heart Foundation and the Italian-Latin American Institute. Havana's Convention Center was the site of an International Symposium of the Heart Foundation.
Iberoamerican Educational Television broadcast the scientific conference live from the Cuban capital, which was defined as a milestone for the development of children's heart surgery in Latin America. An estimated four million viewers from Central and South America, Spain, Portugal and the southern region of the U.S. watched the conference, led by a pioneer of modern children's heart surgery, Guatemalan Aldo Castaneda. Delegates from 17 nations and experts from seven Latin American universities were in attendance during the two-day event here in the Cuban capital.
U.S. Pharmaceutical Companies Explore Business Possibilities On The Island
Washington, September 8 (Radio Havana Cuba)-- U.S. pharmaceutical companies are setting their sights on Cuba in an effort to expand their markets. According to the Journal of Commerce -- published in Washington, D.C. -- several representatives from two major U.S. pharmaceutical companies have just concluded a business tour of the island, complete with samples of their products.
According to The Journal of Commerce, the Clinton Administration has authorized U.S. pharmaceutical companies to carry samples of their products to Cuba. Pending draft legislation in the U.S. Congress would allow for the licensing of the drug giants to sell medical equipment and pharmaceutical products to Cuba. The daily newspaper says sales could amount to millions of dollars a year, IF the bill is approved by the U.S. Congress and signed into law.
The President of the U.S.-based Cuban-American Economic and Trade Council, John Kaluvich, told the Journal of Commerce that several U.S. pharmaceutical companies have plans to send representatives to Cuba in the near future.
San Jose- Two Cuban scientists from the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine are now in Costa Rica to confer with specialists fighting against a dengue epidemic. The arrival of the Cuban experts to Costa Rica takes place with the report that two people have died as a result of dengue over the past two weeks. More than 50 Costa Ricans have been affected by the current outbreak, especially in the provinces of Puntarenas and Alajuela.
Havana- Children from the Caribbean island of Montserrat are ending their three-week stay here in Cuba, where they received medical care for psychological stress. A total of 42 children stayed at the beach resort of Tarara, located east of Havana. Tarara also has provided specialized treatment to more than 12,000 Ukrainian children, affected by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986. The rehabilitation program for the children of Montserrat -- emotionally distressed by volcanic eruptions on the island -- is a joint effort of the Cuban Red Cross, the Regional Red Cross, the Red Crescent Federation and the British Red Cross in Montserrat.
Havana- A Cuban-made, highly effective healing agent made from lobster shell will soon be exported to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. According to Doctor Ruth Daisy Henriques of the University of Havana, the four Latin American nations have already approved the pharmaceutical product for use. Experts say the new product is basically made out of chitin -- a natural substance found in lobster shells that acts as a skin-growing agent and improves damaged skin cells. Human testing reveals that chitin is highly effective in the treatment of chronic ulcers, burns and superficial wounds. With the use of this new product, hospitalization of patients can also be reduced in half.
HAVANA- A new combined-vaccine against hepatitis B and meningitis B and C will be tested on humans in Cuba during 1998. The project is the result of combined efforts of the island's National Bioproducts Center, the Genetic and Biotechnology Engineering Center, the Finlay Institute and the Tropical Medicine Institute. The announcement was made by Doctor Claudio Rodriguez, Director of the National Bioproducts Center, who revealed the agenda of the 3rd National Workshop on Culture Media to be held this week in Havana. With the participation of more than 50 local scientific centers, universities and hospitals, the workshop is sponsored by institutions from Venezuela and Canada. Under discussion will be new techniques to diagnose the presence of micro-organisms and the epidemiology of diseases caused by bacteria.
HAVANA- Cuba's health care system has a new supplier: the Central Digital Research Institute. With more than 500 medical machines, the institute fulfilled its production plan for 1996 and part of this year's goal with the total of more than 3500 machines to be finished by the end of 1998. According to the Central Digital Research Institute's Director, Fernando Rojas, the institute will provide the island's intensive care units, operating rooms and emergency rooms with a Cuban-made heart monitor, which can be directly used on the chest of the patient. The institute has already completed more than 1200 machines used to measure the quantity of oxygen in blood. For 1998, the institute plans to distribute around the island more than 640 intensive care monitors -- 300 used in working with paraplegics -- and 65 digital-EKGs.
The Cuban Association of the Physically Handicapped (ACLIFIM) is convening the 2nd International Conference on the Rights of Disabled People, scheduled to be held on October 21-24, 1997.
The venue of the meeting will be the Havana International Conference Center.
The Conference aims at promoting social participation of people with disabilities through the exchange of experiences on the rights of the disabled in today's society and the discussion of topics of interest in this field.
The Conference is open to organizations of disabled people, people with disabilities, social, religious, and non-governmental organizations, governmental institutions, professionals and other persons interested in discussing the selected topics.
Main topics: Social integration, Rights of disabled people, Social security and social services, Removing the barriers, Education, arts and culture, Sport and leisure, The family, parenthood and sexuality and Social communication.
The scientific program will include:
The official languages will be Spanish and English.
AIDS: IMMEDIATE MEASURES (IV) SINCE THE FIRST CASES
When the first diagnostic kits were acquired in 1986, as was mentioned earlier, the initial step taken was to guarantee the safety of blood donations. Immediately afterwards, health authorities began to check individuals who had been abroad - particularly in Africa - for more than three months; they began by testing those who had traveled since 1980, then moved the time limit back to 1975, according to Dr. Rigoberto Torres. This was when the first HIV-positive cases began to appear, and in April, coincidentally, the first AIDS death was reported.
The search was expanded. Chains of possible transmission were established, through epidemiological interviews; testing was carried out on people admitted to hospitals, on people considered to be at risk because of their work or other factors, and on those who voluntarily requested it. The AIDS epidemic in Cuba has developed much like everywhere else in the world, with a certain tendency towards an increase in the number of cases, but at a slower rate. The figures speak for themselves: 1492 cases of HIV infection diagnosed over all these years, with an active search in effect, encompassing more than 18.8 million tests.
At the end of 1996, there were a total of 234 HIV-positive cases in Cuba, the highest number this decade, but this is understandable, stressed Dr. Torres, given the circulation of the virus. "We have a control program that allows for early detection," he said, "but naturally it does not prevent transmission." The Ministry of Public Health warns that there is still not sufficient awareness in Cuba regarding the risk of contracting AIDS. Condom use, for example, is still not widespread. This goes beyond a simple issue of health, and must be dealt with on a variety of different fronts. That is the reason behind a plan being developed with the participation of the Ministries of Education, Higher Education and Culture, organizations like the Federation of Cuban Women, and the mass media, as a means of promoting greater awareness, and particularly to stress the importance of condom use. The campaign is aimed at the population as a whole, but with a special focus on young people (most of Cuba's HIV-positive individuals are between the ages of 15 and 35).
There are a number of obstacles to be surmounted, however. For example, Cuba would need some 120 million condoms a year to supply just 50 percent of the male population between 15 and 50 years of age, and the country simply doesn't have access to such large quantities. A partial solution has been found with projects like one being funded by a Netherlands-based chapter of Médecins Sans Frontiéres, and another sponsored by UN-AIDS, which provide not only condoms, but also educational material and training.
With regard to the development of the AIDS epidemic in Cuba, there is another factor worth considering: of the 1492 people who have been diagnosed as HIV-positive, 555 have developed AIDS. In other words, the virus progresses more slowly than it does elsewhere in the world (there are currently 545,000 confirmed cases of fully developed AIDS, although estimates point to a figure of 6.7 million).
HAVANA- The prestigious German BAYER company will distribute medicines in Cuba. BAYER -- working in Cuba for fifty one years now -- will supply the island's pediatric clinics and hospitals with eight high quality products beginning in July. The German medical and pharmaceutical company is participating at the 8th "Health for All" International Fair underway in Havana. Meanwhile, the English ROXTON firm has presented Cuban health authorities with 20 electronic machines designed to eliminate salt from water pipes. The donation -- valued at 50 000 dollars -- was presented by the Italian FARMAVENDA medical company at the Health For All International Fair. The kalkotronic devices will be installed in 20 pediatric hospitals across the island.
MADRID.- Cuban researchers' opinions on a number of diseases are included in the book "AIDS, Cancer and Parkinson's Disease: Breakthroughs in Preventions and Cures" by German writer Haines Dietrich. The book came out recently in Spain. Dietrich -- who is a sociology professor at the Autonomous University of Mexico and an economist -- stated that his book is the result of three years of interviews with Cuban scientists. Dietrich underscored Cuba's scientific progress in research on diseases such as cancer and AIDS and emphasized that despite current hardships, the island ranks among the nations with the most physicians per inhabitants. In addition, Dietrich pointed out that Cuban scientists are working on cures for cholera, dengue fever and meningitis. Haines Dietrich, author of 30 books on scientific and sociological issues, asserted that Cuba's scientific achievements are the result of free universal education and health care.
HAVANA.- Cuba is in the avant guard of research on the use of ozone for medical purpose. The announcement was made by the vice-president of Spain's Oxygen and Ozone Society, Dr. Jose Luis Cidon. The Spanish doctor attended the second International Symposium on the use of ozone, which took place in Havana's La Pradera hotel and health center. Cidon praised what he called the admirable and trade conditions Cuba is now facing. He added that Spanish doctors have learned a lot about the studies conducted by Cuban experts on the properties and use of that ass in the treatment of several diseases. He noted that Spanish specialists have benefited much from those studies. Representatives from 17 countries were attending the international seminar in the Cuban capital.
GENEVA.- A Cuban proposal before the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva has received wide support. The resolution, entitled "The Right to Food," has gotten the support of a number of countries, among them: Italy, France, Ireland and Portugal. According to a member of the Cuban delegation to the 53rd Session of the Commission, Margarita Valle, the Cuban proposal has also received t he support of many African countries, directly affected by the denial of food -- a violation of one's human rights. Rwanda, Angola, Madagascar and Nigeria have added their voices in support of the Cuban resolution before the U.N. Human Rights Commission. The Cuban delegation pointed out that according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the FAO, more than 800 million people in the world are starving, while one and a half billion people are without clean drinking water.
HAVANA.- Zambian and Cuban health authorities explore ways to increase bilateral cooperation. Zambian health minister, Katele Kalumba, heads a delegation that would tour some of the island's most important health research and biotechnological centers. The African nations is particularly interested in the Cuban experience of the Family doctor's program, the island's pharmaceutical industry and t he areas of tourism and fishing. Some 34 Cuban doctors from several specialties are currently working in Zambia.
The important fact that it has prevented the entrance of malaria in Cuba is enough to justify the existence of the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), one of the island's most prestigious scientific institutions, founded almost 60 years ago.
Controlling diseases that emerged in the country during the 1980s represented a true challenge for this center, which from its foundation has participated in several scientific exchanges.
In 1978, on returning from a trip to Africa, President Fidel Castro called for an urgent meeting in order to immediately strengthen the Institute of Tropical Medicine, with the objective of preventing the spread of exotic diseases on the island and to collaborate with developing countries in the fight against endemic illnesses.
During this time, Cuba maintained a significant civil and military contingent in other nations, particularly in Africa, which was exposed to tropical diseases unknown or eradicated years earlier in Cuba.
The IPK, which since its 1937 founding had been devoted to parasitology, has added to its research the development of microbiology, epidemiology and tropical medicine. Specializations such as exotic parasitology, all branches of microbiology, bacteriology, virology, mycology and a clinic for infectious diseases were incorporated.
Among the new tasks of this institution, epidemiological control, clinical work with AIDS patients and those with other diseases, new diagnostic tests, and the process of testing vaccines are highlighted.
Located 20 minutes away from downtown Havana, the Pedro Kouri Institute guides the development of parasitology, microbiology, tropical medicine and epidemiology of infectious diseases in Cuba. However, the most basic element of its work, insists Dr. Gustavo Kouri, the Institute's director, is to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the country.
In this area, the IPK takes care of hepatitis, herpes, measles, rubella, mumps and poliomyelitis, an illness long ago eradicated in the country.
HAVANA.- A Cuban machine for fast microbiological diagnosis (DIRAMIC) will soon enter the Canadian market following successful trials and tough screening, said a local press report. David G.P. Allan, president of the Board of York Medical Company Inc., made the announcement on his visit to the island. He also expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the screening tests carried out by renown Canadian microbiologist Joseph Boindeau.
HAVANA.- More than 400 children have been saved from being mental retarded under the congenital hypothyroidism detection program in force since 1986, after the creation of the Immune Essay Center. Doctor Jose Luis Fernandez Yero, director of the Center, explained that Cuba was second only to Britain in its massive use of the program but the latter suspended it in 1980 because of budgetary constraints.
HAVANA.- Experts from more than a dozen nations were attending four specialized meetings on tropical medicine in Havana. The Havana-based Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute was the venue of the 5th Latin American Congress on Tropical Medicine, the 5th Cuban Congress on Microbiology and Parasitology, the 2nd Cuban Congress on Tropical Medicine and the Congress to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Cuban Tropical Medicine Institute. Cuban health authorities have announced that a Cuban-made vaccine against cholera will soon be tested on humans. The vaccine prototype is the result of joint research by experts from the National Scientific Research Center and the Finlay Institute. To date, the clinical tests of the vaccine have proved effective on animals. Clinical tests on humans will begin this month. In related news, representatives from the Spanish autonomous region of Galicia at the 6th Cuba-Galicia Health Encounter have shown interest in acquiring the Cuban vaccine against meningitis - a disease that can be fatal or cause serious brain damage. Galician health officials noted that, contrary to another vaccine which is currently being sold on the international market, the Cuban vaccine can be administered to children under two years of age.
Havana, February 20(RHC)-- Cuba has exclusive pharmaceutical products that are practically unknown abroad due to Washington's blockade of the island, according to Heinz Dieterich, a doctor in social sciences. Dieterich is currently residing in Mexico, where tomorrow he will present his book containing detailed information on Cuban advances in medicine during an international book fair in Mexico City with the participation of 300 publishing houses occupying 377 stands in 9 thousand square meters
The author of "AIDS, Cancer, Parkinson: New Discoveries in Prevention and Cure" told Havana's Prensa Latina news agency that Cuba has developed pharmaceutical products that are more efficient than those of some transnationals, and that can be produced at 30 to 40 percent less cost. Doctor Dieterich asserted that biopharmaceuticals annually move 300 billion dollars a year worldwide and that the struggle to control this market is brutal --similar, he said, to the struggle to control the oil market
The author cites the Cuban cure for retinosis pigmentosa, asserts that the Cuban vaccine against meningitis is superior to any other in the world, and that Cuba has developed a prototype of an AIDS antigen. These and more Cuban discoveries, said Doctor Dieterich, are hidden or silenced by the US government, and not only for political reasons. He said that with respect to the Parkinson disease, Cuba is in the world vanguard, and is currently carrying out the world's most systematic effort. Doctor Dieterich said that he was compelled to write his book following a 1994 visit to Cuba, where he was able to see first hand the island's pharmaceutical development, and because on of his family members was cured of a disease in Cuba after doctors in Germany were unable to do so
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