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Cuba Appeals to the World to Join Ebola Struggle

By Granma International

19 October 14

he Cuban government, as it has throughout these 55 years of Revolution, has decided to participate in the global effort being conducted by the World Health Organization to confront the dramatic situation unfolding in western Africa, while at the same time, calling on all countries’ governments and ministries of health to join the struggle against this disease.”

With these words, Cuban Minister of Health Roberto Morales Ojeda, began his statement in Geneva, September 12, announcing the sending of a 165-person brigade, including 62 doctors and 103 nurses, who possess on average 15 years of experience. All, he added, have previously participated in responses to natural disasters or epidemics, as well as medical collaboration missions, with some 23% having joined more than one internationalist effort.

Morales explained that the brigade, which is will function through the World Health Organization (WHO) in Sierra Leone, includes participants selected from among the many who voluntarily expressed their willingness to work in conjunction with all who become involved, including the United States.

The Cuban minister reported that he had traveled to Geneva to meet with WHO General Director Dr. Margaret Chan, to respond in the name of the Cuban government, to the request she and UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon made to President Raúl Castro Ruz, as part of a worldwide effort to combat the Ebola epidemic in western Africa.

The minister explained that, at the very beginning of the crisis, Cuba decided to maintain its medical brigades offering services in Africa, in particular the 23-person group in Sierra Leone, and the 16 member contingent in Guinea Conakry.

During Dr. Margaret Chan’s press conference, Morales called upon other world governments and health ministries to collaborate with the affected countries.

He also said that Cuba has taken steps as stipulated by international health standards with regards to the entry and exit of travelers, as well as strengthening its National Hygienic-Epidemiological Vigilance System.

The minister continued saying that Cuba’s response is a continuation of Cuba’s tradition of solidarity, recalling that the Revolution did not wait to develop its own health care services, before offering help to other peoples. Just one year after the triumph of the Revolution, in 1960, Cuba provided international medical aid for the first time, to earthquake victims in Chile. In May of 1963, the country’s first medical brigade of 55 internationalists departed to Algeria, to offer their services for a one year period.

In the decade of the 1970’s, Cuba’s solidarity in the field of healthcare was extended across Latin America, Africa and Asia. In 1988, after Hurricanes George and Mitch ravaged the region, the Comprehensive Health Program was begun in the Caribbean and Central America, while to date, some 25,288,000 Cuban health professionals have offered their services in 32 countries.

Cuban has also collaborated in the training of medical sciences professionals for 121 countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas. To date, 38,940 doctors have been trained, 24,486 of which graduated over the last 10 years from the Latin American School of Medicine, inaugurated by Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz in November, 1999, as a means of making the Comprehensive Health Program sustainable.

Cuba currently provides collaborating medical sciences professors for medical schools in 10 countries, serving a total of 29,580 students.

One of Cuba’s most humane programs was initiated in July of 2004, with the collaboration of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: Operation Miracle which has returned or improved the sight of more than 2.8 million people in 35 countries. Of these, 36,636 in Africa.

Morales also recalled the catastrophe which followed Hurricane Katrina’s trajectory over New Orleans, September 19, 2005, and the creation of Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Confronting Disasters and Epidemics.

At that time, some 10,000 Cuban doctors were readied to offer help to the people of New Orleans, help which was not accepted by the U.S. government. Since then, however, 39 brigades have been created which have provided emergency aid in 23 countries.

Disability, as one the our peoples’ most pressing problems, led to Cuba’s conducting of psycho-sociological and clinical-genetic surveys in Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Since 2008,

Cuban medical personnel and collaborators have visited the homes of 1.5 million people with disabilities to determine needs.

In Africa to date, 76,744 health care providers have offered their services in 39 countries. Currently, 4,048 heath workers, including 2,269 doctors, are collaborating in 32 countries.

Cuba is present today in 66 countries, with 50,731 health workers, of whom 64.6% are women and 25,412 are doctors.

Over these years of solidarity and cooperation, 595,482 missions have been completed in 158 countries, with the participation of 325,710 health workers, many of whom have completed two, three or more missions. More than 1.2 million medical consultations have been provided; more than 2.2 million births assisted; 8 million surgeries performed; and more than 12 million children and pregnant women immunized.

WHO general director Dr. Margaret Chan emphasized, during the press conference, that having the right people, the right specialists, is critical to preventing the spreading of Ebola. These medical professionals, she said, must be appropriately trained and know how to keep themselves safe, as well.

“Money and materials are important, but with these means alone we can not stop the Ebola outbreak… What is most important is that they be people who feel compassion, doctors and nurses who know how to comfort patients despite the barriers, for example, of wearing a protective suit, and working in very difficult circumstances,” she said.

After reiterating that the Ebola outbreak ravaging part of western Africa is the longest, most severe and complex in the almost 40 years since the virus was first known, Chan commented that Cuba is recognized internationally for its capacity to train excellent doctors and nurses, as well as “its generosity and solidarity with countries on the road to progress.”

Later, in response to a reporter’s question, Dr. Chan reported that China has also responded, and has provided medical equipment to three of the affected countries.

She added that UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon has been speaking with world leaders, especially those in Britain, the United States, France, South Africa, and China, saying, “All of the conversations have been very positive. It is now about the details, how many people, what materials, and where.”