Geneva (Prensa Latina) The decision announced this week by Cuba to send a brigade to Africa to fight Ebola is continued solidarity offered to many countries around the world during 55 years of Revolution. Thus expressed the Cuban Minister of Public Health, Roberto Morales, to Prensa Latina. The Minister conducted a working visit to Geneva to meet the request of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to contribute on coping with hemorrhagic fever.
The Caribbean nation is sending to Africa 165 employees, of whom 62 are doctors and 103 nurses, who have over 15 years of professional experience and have worked in countries affected by natural disasters and health crises. This team is comprised of specialists in epidemiology, intensive care, infectious disease and primary care, as well as graduates in nursing and health promotion.
The brigade will work in Sierra Leone, a country where there is already a group of 23 employees.
Without doubt, the participation in this effort to fight against Ebola is not an isolated incident, but it is a continuation of what we have done since the very beginning of the Revolution, recalled the Minister of Health.
Morales stated that in the case of Africa, at this time there are more than four thousand Cuban personnel cooperating in 32 countries, of which 2,200 are doctors. Two of these nations are affected by the epidemic, but in other Cuba continues preparing employees for that, with governments and health authorities, to take measures to prevent the spread of Ebola.
In his statements to the agency, the minister highlighted the recognition of WHO Director-General Margaret Chan to Cuba for being the first country to respond to this magnitude called to participate in the global effort against the Ebola virus.
Chan said that this is the largest response from a State received before this emergency. "For such a small nation, the number of doctors and nurses who are being sent, and how quickly they responded, it's really wonderful," said Chan.
The WHO Director thanked the generosity of the Cuban government and the professionals who will help to contain the worst outbreak of hemorrhagic fever in history. At the UN, its Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, also applauded the decision of Cuba to send 165 professionals to Africa and encouraged other governments to do the same.
This is the most complex epidemic of Ebola that is known today, with 4,784 registered cases and more than 2,500 fatalities, according to data updated by the international body.
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Translated from the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru by Timofei Belov
Much is said about the USA's decision to send soldiers to fight Ebola in West Africa, little is said, as usual, about Cuba's decision to send a brigade of healthcare workers to West Africa as part of the ongoing health aid (alongside education aid) Cuba has been exporting for half a century. Cuba has been sending healthcare professionals around the developing world to share medicinal programs and treat the sick, at cost price, for over half a century. The "Yo, sí puedo!" literacy campaign has freed thousands from the yoke of illiteracy and has given them freedom that western style and western supported regimes never did.
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
Pravda.Ru