Cuban Medical Collaboration: A Source of Life

Cuba not only prides itself on having a rate of 8.5 doctors per thousand inhabitants, one of the best in the world, but also having provided the services of 407,000 health professionals in 164 countries on all continents since 1963

Lisandra Fariñas Acosta | [email protected]
May 30, 2019 10:05:50

Cuban doctors working around the world are true heroes. Photo: Yudy Castro Morales
CUBA not only prides itself on having a rate of 8.5 doctors per thousand inhabitants, one of the best in the world, but also because “due to the values of solidarity and humanism that characterize us, from 1963 to the present, 407,000 health professionals have been present in 164 countries on all continents. Currently, there are more than 29,000 in 66 nations,” Cuban Public Health Minister, Dr. José Ángel Portal Miranda, recently noted on speaking at the 72nd session of the World Health Assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland, May 20 through 28.

“More than 35,000 professionals from 136 countries have been trained in our universities, and 8,478 from 121 nations are currently studying. The positive impact on the lives of millions of people in tens of thousands of communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean is unquestionable,” Portal stressed.

The Minister emphasized that these achievements have been possible despite the unjust and cruel economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the U.S. government for almost 60 years, which is currently intensifying and constitutes the main obstacle to the country’s development. .

Despite this, he said, “Cuba reiterates its commitment to share its experiences in the development of primary health care, making available to the World Health Organization and its member states, cooperation programs, medical universities for the training of professionals and technicians, the products of the medical-pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry, as a way of contributing to universal health coverage for all.”