Cuba Reiterates to WHO Its Willingness to Share Experiences in Fighting Covid-19
Havana, May 18 (Prensa Latina) The Minister of Public Health José Ángel Portal reiterated to WHO at its World Assembly today, Cuba’s willingness to cooperate and share its experiences in the fight against Covid-19.
No country can face this pandemic alone, it requires a global response based on unity, solidarity and cooperation, Portal stressed in his speech as part of the meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) that for the first time was done virtually.
COVID-19, stressed the minister, does not distinguish borders, ideologies or levels of development. Hence, the response must also be global and joint, overcoming political differences.
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He considered it an essential theme that, without neglecting the responsibility to protect our people, the Caribbean nation not abandon its vocation of solidarity.
More than 2,300 collaborators in 26 medical brigades contribute to the fight against the disease in 24 countries, and they are joined by more than 28,000 who were already in 59 nations, he said.
This gesture of solidarity, the minister stressed, has not been prevented by the blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba for almost 60 years, nor by that country’s attempts to discredit and hinder international cooperation.
He highlighted at another time that the disease caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus has tested health systems around the world, as well as the response capacity of this Caribbean nation.
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When the first cases were diagnosed in Cuba on March 11, Portal recalled, the measures of a plan had already been put in place with the protocols and good practices in line with the WHO. Its daily monitoring, he explained, has made it possible to strengthen epidemiological surveillance and guarantee timely treatments, he said.
After highlighting that its implementation is based on a free, universal health system, with an indicator of nine doctors per thousand inhabitants, which guarantees 100 percent coverage for the population, Portal highlighted the importance of having a powerful industry medical-biopharmaceutical.
Products such as interferon alfa 2b, monoclonal antibodies, CIGB 258 peptide and Surfacen have been made available to patients to treat the disease, and thanks to them, the country has been able to move through a favorable scenario in the confrontation with the pandemic, he stressed.
After more than 60 days of the first cases, the accumulated number of positive patients in Cuba reaches 1,881, while 1,505 have recovered from this disease.
WHO’s decision-making body, the World Health Assembly is attended by delegations from all the Member States of the Organization.
Its main functions are to determine policies, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and examine and approve the proposed program budget.
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