Members of Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade in Barbados during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuba has sent similar brigades throughout the Caribbean and around the world.
By Isaac Saney, Spokesperson, Canadian Network on Cuba
The Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC) is launching the Campaign to Support Cuba’s Contribution to World Fight Against COVID-19 to assist the heroic island’s internationalist medical missions that are combatting the pandemic across the world. At the time of writing, Cuba has more than 800 medical personnel serving humanity in the trenches of 16 countries against the dreaded coronavirus: including Italy (currently with the greatest number of fatalities), Spain, Andorra, in Europe; Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Grenada, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Belize, in the Caribbean; Venezuela and Nicaragua, in Latin America, and Angola in Africa. In the coming days more Cuban medical missions will be dispatched to other countries.
Currently, at least, 45 countries have sought to use Cuba’s Interferon Alfa 2B Recombinant (IFNrec) for confronting the COVID-19 pandemic. The international profile and acknowledgement of IFNrec is steadily growing. For example, there is the March 24 Newsweek article, “Cuba Uses ‘Wonder Drug’ to Fight Coronavirus Around the World Despite U.S. Sanctions,” and, “The World Rediscovers Cuban Medical Internationalism,” in the March 30 issue of Le Monde Diplomatique. The Chinese National Health Commission is using IFNrec as a crucial component of the anti-viral treatment to combat the coronavirus. In the recently published extensive medical handbook by Zhejiang University School of Medicine on how to treat COVID-19 based on China’s experience with the pandemic, IFNrec is identified as a significant part of the treatment. It has been very effective among the most vulnerable patients in China, Cuba, and Italy.
The Cuban medical brigade’s arrival in Turin, Italy | Heidy Villuendas
Cuba’s medical missions and other generous assistance to humanity in this time of pandemic reflects the island’s history and dedication over the last six decades of always standing with the peoples of the world in their time of need. During the course of the Cuban Revolution more than 400,000 Cuban health care workers have served in 164 countries. For example, many of the medical personnel now intimately involved in the fight against COVID-19 in the 16 countries mentioned are part of the specially trained Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade against Disasters and Serious Epidemics, which distinguished themselves the fight against the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
Cuban internationalist medical missions have often been compared to dreamcatchers. Just as dreamcatchers allow only good dreams to pass through, while preventing nightmares, so too the Cuban medical internationalist missions do their utmost to stop the nightmares of disease from reaching the people.
The disinfection of streets and avenues, by means of tank trucks that spread chlorinated and soapy water, constitutes today one of the measures carried out in Havana, the province with the highest number of infections by Covid-19 in Cuba.
Cuba is also engaged in its own fight against COVID-19. It is doing this in the face of an unrelenting economic war waged by the United States against the people of Cuba: a war that limits the island’s access to equipment and other necessary items required to preserve the health of Cubans. However, as it has always done, and continues to do, the Cuban government affirms and upholds that health care is a human right and places the well-being of its people at the centre of its policies and political decisions.
The Campaign to Support Cuba’s Contribution to World Fight Against COVID-19 echoes the 2010 CNC Cuba for Haiti Campaign, which was warmly and enthusiastically received by Canadians. As Haitians struggled to recover from the devastating earthquake, more than $200,000 were raised to assist the Cuban medical mission in Haiti. That campaign demonstrated the confidence that the Canadian people have in Cuba, with many people giving contributions simply on the grounds that their money would safely reach its destination and not be squandered in corruption or misused. This shows the respect and admiration of Canadians for the Cuban people and their efforts to build and defend a society centred on independence, justice and human dignity.
For more information on the Campaign to Support Cuba’s Contribution to World Fight Against COVID-19 contact Keith Ellis, Coordinator, Campaign to Support Cuba’s Contribution to World Fight Against COVID-19 at: 905-822-1972 or Isaac Saney, CNC Spokesperson at: 902-449-4967.
To contribute to the Campaign to Support Cuba’s Contribution to World Fight Against COVID-19: cheques should be made out to the “CNC,” with “COVID-19” written in the memo, and then mailed to:
c/o Sharon Skup
56 Riverwood Terrace
Bolton ON L7E 1S4
(March 30, 2020)
Update
The Cuban Ministry of Public Health reported on April 15 there were 48 new confirmed cases with Covid-19, a total amount of 814, while there are 24 deaths.
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For your information
A special solidarity webinar to learn about the example Cuba is setting of putting human needs ahead of profits in the fight against COVID-19. Panelists discuss Cuba’s history of medical internationalism; how Cuba is fighting COVID-19 on the Island based on providing health care as a right; learn how Cuba is developing effective new medications such as Interferon Alpha 2-B; and how Cuba is sending medical teams to Italy, the Caribbean and dozens of countries.
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For your information: News in brief
U.S. company buys ventilator supplier and cancels shipments to Cuba citing blockade
(April 13) – While Cuban medical collaboration is extended around the world to help contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the insane blockade imposed by the United States on our country, has just denied our public health system access to two regular suppliers of ventilators, key to the care of the most serious cases of the disease.In another twist of this genocidal, inhumane policy, the manufacturers IMTMedical AG and Acutronic, announced the end of commercial relations with Cuba, after the companies were acquired by the U.S. firm Vyaire Medical Inc.
“Unfortunately, the corporate guideline we have today is to suspend all commercial relations with Medicuba,” both stated, according to the director for Latin America and the Caribbean at Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex), Eugenio Martínez Enríquez, on his Twitter account.
The Cuban diplomat also denounced that fact that the blockade prevents Cuba from purchasing medicines from U.S. firms, as recently confirmed by Lázaro Silva, vice president of Medicuba, the entity that imports drugs, equipment and medical supplies for the country’s public health system.
This new blow, promoted by the Trump administration, comes just hours after the director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called for putting sanctions “in quarantine,” since “thousands of lives are at stake,” alluding to the danger posed by the new coronavirus.
Unfortunately, this it is just another sign of the U.S. government’s contempt for life and hatred of the Cuban people.
Just days ago, the Cuban government denounced the loss of a donation of medical supplies to combat COVID-19, from the Chinese foundation Alibaba, which was not delivered because the U.S. company contracted for the task backed out, at the last minute, citing blockade regulations.
Over the last year, Cuba has suffered damages of 160 million dollars as a result of U.S. sanctions in the field of health, alone, obliged to make purchases from distant countries and thus incurring higher shipping costs.
Granma
Estudios Revolución
HAVANA (April 14) – Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel called to reduce the circulation of state vehicles as much as possible to contribute to social distancing amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The president specifically referred to state cars that are still circulating on the streets although work in state institutions has decreased.
At the daily meeting of the Government’s working group to prevent and control Covid-19 on Monday, the head of State called to facilitate food sales to the population through community initiatives and home deliveries.
The officials who regularly participate in the government’s meeting did so through teleconferences from their work places.
Transportation Minister Eduardo Rodriguez explained that after the suspension of public transport in the country, the movements of health professionals and other indispensable workers is guaranteed, as well as those of cancer patients and people suffering from other diseases.
Germán Veloz Placencia
HOLGUÍN (April 9): “Thank you, Cuba,” Canadian Michael Glafhestea shouted leaving the city’s Fermín Valdés Domínguez Hospital, discharged after beating COVID-19. His voice broke as he turned toward the ambulance taking him to Frank País García International Airport, where a plane was waiting to take him home.
Earlier, while waiting for formalities to be completed, he contacted the press, conveying with a few words in Spanish that he wanted to express his gratitude for the care he had received from the hospital’s staff.
His was the first confirmed case of the new coronavirus in Holguin. Michael was on vacation at the Rio de Oro Hotel, when his symptoms were detected. He was immediately taken to the Fermín Valdés Domínguez Hospital, where a fully-prepared medical team, with necessary medicine and equipment on hand, fought for his life.
Departing for his homeland, he carried with him all medications needed to complete his treatment, in accordance with the protocol for these cases established by the Cuban Medical Association. A group of doctors and staff members bid him farewell with applause. A few days earlier, they had received a patient; now a friend was leaving.
Granma
Cubans who aided cruise ship passengers all Covid-19 free
Forty-three individuals involved in the humanitarian operation March 18, to repatriate passengers stranded on the British cruise ship MS Braemar, have been discharged from isolation centers, with no infections detected | Yenia Silva Correa
Ricardo López Hevia
(April 9) On the morning of April 2, forty-three individuals involved in the humanitarian operation March 18, to repatriate passengers stranded on the British cruise ship MS Braemar, were discharged from isolation centers.
Cuba responded to the call for help of 682touristsand 381 crew members aboard the ship, several with COVID-19, which had fallen on deaf ears in several ports in the region, including the United States, in what was another achievement of Cuban medicine and of our public health system, another sign of the solidarity that, despite the risks, has always characterized our country.
Fidel’s socialist Cuba responded as best it can: with respect and love. But that expression of caring for those who need it most is not new; it is present in more than 60 nations, and now in more than a dozen brigades fighting the virulent illness in other countries.
When it was announced that the island would facilitate the repatriation of passengers and crew on the MS Braemar, there were those who questioned the decision, attempting to sully the image of our nation by asserting that Cuba was not caring for its own, a crude lie about a country that protects the health of its entire population in an exemplary fashion, not only in times of COVID-19, allocating a large portion of our state budget to public health. And all internationally established preventative measures were taken to protect Cubans involved in helping those aboard the ship.
Today, drivers, customs officers and all those who exposed themselves to possible infection, in the interest of helping other human beings, are now confirmed free of the virus, after completing the isolation period in quarantine as mandated by Cuba’s COVID-19 Prevention and Control Plan.
Granma
HAVANA (April 15) – Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health bets on new technologies in the face of media campaigns against the country, assured the director of the National Center for Information on Medical Sciences (INFOMED), Ileana Alfonso.
According to the also healthcare professional, Internet is vital for truthful disclosure since the end of 2019 when the first notions of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, causing Covid-19 disease, began to circulate.
‘Our INFOMED website played a key role with a truthful and reliable update. In addition to this, we have a website dedicated to the novel coronavirus with several websites to combat misinformation,’ she detailed in statements to the television programme Mesa Redonda.
In this work, Cuban specialists developed a mobile application that inserts updated information in real time on the development of the Covid-19 pandemic.
INFOMED also publishes documents with analysis and metric research on the evolution of the pandemic in the world and in Cuba, where it already reports 766 positives and 132 medical discharges.
In the midst of the discredit campaigns against Cuba, the expert called for confirming the information that is circulating, in particular heeding the authorship, the context, the source, the update and the publishing house from which it comes.
Special attention must be paid to fake quotes spreading in this sensitive context, she underscored.
The specialist referred to terms such as misinformation overload and poisoning information, including rumors and the known ‘fake news’ that invade the population at the current juncture of the disease.
About 2,200 people who live alone or have a health impairment are covered by the Family Care System (SAF), the territory’s strategy to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
Prensa Latina learned that the Commerce sector has some 60 gastronomic units linked in the province to guarantee food resources, which begin their elaboration at dawn to distribute from 10:30 local time.
Ariel Fernández, director of the Grupo Empresarial de Comercio, explained to the press that by restricting the movement of people, mainly those of the most vulnerable ages, this initiative, endorsed by the country’s highest authorities, was put into practice.
Currently, he said, when cases of local transmission were declared in the territory and extreme measures were applied to mobility in areas of the municipalities of Cabaiguán and Taguasco, the attention to people linked to the SAF becomes more relevant.
He commented that workers in cafeterias, bars and other centres that remain closed are linked to the delivery of food in the houses.
Those included in this project – for lunch and lunch – receive a wide variety of processed products, in addition to soft drinks, yogurt or juices, he said.
Likewise, he pointed out, the workers who take on this task strictly comply with the health protection and hygiene measures established to prevent the new coronavirus.
Lastly, he remarked that this program has the necessary food resources and supplies to guarantee a reinforced diet for this group of people, who are now living in isolation from Covid-19 in their homes.
Prensa Latina
Camagüey (April 14) – In Camagüey province, located in eastern Cuba, where until today 30 Covid-19 cases are reported, the health authorities are reinforcing measures and perfecting their medical infrastructure to prevent the spread of the illness.
The provincial director of Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health, Juan Jambia, stated that ‘it is a complicated virus, it can appear as a cold in 80 percent of the population, but not in all the evolution is similar and the risk increases if the person suffers from another disease.’
Therefore, in this region where cases have been confirmed in the municipalities of Camagüey, Florida, Nuevitas, Esmeralda and Vertientes, ‘in addition to curing them, the challenge is to detect the greatest number of contacts and from there to speed up disinfection and isolation actions,’ set out the doctor.
The decision of the Provincial Defense Council to isolate the Argentina community, in the Camaguey municipality of Florida ‘is made according to the protocol in these cases, and there are the conditions that range from increasing sanitary investigations, to the slightest control of the movements,’ he argued.
According to the physician, a sick person who remains asymptomatic can infect, if movements are not limited, up to 400 individuals in six days, ‘that is why, more than a thousand capacities have been enabled in isolation centers throughout the region.’
Nearly 5,000 rapid tests and real-time PCR exams also allowed health authorities to make a better diagnosis and improve work in the Military and Amalia Simoni hospitals, the latter with 385 beds available.
‘Our infrastructure allows us today to care for the 80 confirmed patients, if we count the people from the province of Ciego de Avila, and to have qualified human personnel with all conditions,’ he explained to the local press.
Public Health executives in this Cuban province also supply the homeopathic medicine PrevengHo-Vir, the distribution of which is gradually increasing since the province has enough meds for the population.
Prensa Latina
Twitter @PresidenciaCuba
HAVANA (April 14) – Cuban scientists are working together to design a specific vaccine against Covid-19, as part of a project that is necessary to achieve immunity against the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus, which causes the disease.
In order to achieve that goal, they are working in four vaccine candidates that are being tested in various hosts (mammals’ cells, yeast and different bacteria), Gerardo Guillen, director of Biomedical Research at the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center (CIGB), said on Monday.
We are working fast to develop an injectable vaccine as soon as possible, but making a prediction is delicate, because first we have to obtain the viral sequences, express those antigens in different hosts, and carry out purification processes and quality controls, Guillen noted.
HAVANA (April 14) –Cuba’s product Interferon alfa 2-b has proven to be effective in Covid-19 patient care protocols in different countries that use it against the pandemic, an expert noted here this Tuesday.
The product, which is combined with other chemical antivirals for the Covid-19 treatment, is guaranteed for patient care in Cuba, where there are quantities to supply health services in the most critical scenario that could arise on the country, said on national television BioCubaFarma Business Group’s president Eduardo Martinez.
Speaking on the Mesa Redonda radio-television programme, the expert stressed that this drug had previously been tested against other coronaviruses that, like SARS-Cov-2 causing Covid-19, reduces the natural production of interferon molecule in those infected, which main role is to defend the human body against viral attacks.
There are already 72 nations willing to include this medicine in their actions against Covid-19 disease. So Cuba, with a facility in the national territory and another in China, values other capacities to increase Interferon production, he underscored.
Meanwhile, Gerardo Guillen, director of the Biomedical Researches at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), reported that the molecule’s nebulization use is a rapid way to reach the airway being able to act in early stages of infection; thus, Cuba will have a variant ready for nasal use this week that will initially be applied to health personnel for their protection.
Prensa Latina
Cuba’s doctors in Western Sahara – an example of solidarity
HAVANA ( April 15) – Cuba’s solidarity with the world in health issues is currently making the difference in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, leading up to commemorate the 57th anniversary of the beginning of its international medical collaboration.
On May 23, 1963, the first official brigade, consisting of 29 physicians, four stomatologists, 14 nurses and seven health technicians, arrived in the Republic of Guinea to work in six of its main cities, in addition to Algiers, the capital.
Currently, according to official data, there are some 6,600 collaborators from Cuba providing their services in that continent, not only in health, but also in education, sports, construction, agriculture and water resources.
The epidemiologist and current head of the Cuban medical brigade in the northern city of Maun told Prensa Latina that this is a tourist area, due to its proximity to major natural reserves and jungles.
It is beautiful to see the importance of our work and the role we epidemiologists play in the fight against diseases, she says, because we study their behavior in the populations to contain them.Although communication both with colleagues and patients is mainly in English, we have also learned the local language, Setswana, and have learned about their culture, which we have incorporated into our daily life, the expert noted.
The Cuban medical brigade in Maun has 12 members, who are experts in pediatrics, internal medicine, ophthalmology, dermatology, otorhinolaryngology, orthopedics, oncology, psychiatry and epidemiology, she added.
She explained that although the Letsholathebe II Memorial Public General Hospital is in the city, it provides medical care to the entire Ngamiland district, which has a estimated population of 102,000.
However, the work is not limited to the Covid-19 pandemic, as they also treat cases of malaria, HIV, tuberculosis and diarrheic diseases, among others.
Under the hashtags #CubaSalvaVidas and #SomosCuba, the president posted on his Twitter account a link to the Cubadebate news portal, which published information on the presence of Cuban doctors in countries affected by the pandemic of the new coronavirus Sars CoV-2.
The information of the American news agency Associated Press (AP) quoted by Cubadebate highlights the arrival of hundreds of health collaborators from the largest of the Antilles to at least 14 nations, including Italy, Andorra, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Suriname, Jamaica, Dominica and Belize.
Now, the pressure from Washington that brought home thousands of Cuban doctors who worked in poor sectors of Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia in 2018 and 2019, reemerged amid the worsening of the Covid-19 pandemic, AP points out.
It also highlights that Cuba has so far sent almost 600 doctors from the Henry Reeve Brigade, specialized in disaster situations and serious epidemics, to fight against the coronavirus in the world, while the United States tries to dissuade nations from benefiting from that help.
According to official figures, around 37 thousand Cuban medical collaborators provide services in 67 nations in compliance with intergovernment cooperation agreements.
DAMASCUS (April 13) – The political and press adviser to Syria’s presidency, Boutheina Shabaan, praised this Monday Cuba’s contribution to the world fight against Covid-19 pandemic.
Cuba, Russia and China offered unconditional assistance to Italy, Spain and other countries to help them contain the spread of the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, the presidential adviser deemed in an article issued in the Al-Watan daily.
Battle against COVID-19 – a priority for the Cuban government
President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz lead daily meetings in Revolution Hall, to review in detail the COVID-19 situation on the island.
HAVANA (April 6) – Speaking at a recent meeting, the President referred to medical discharges of recovered patients, saying, “These are lives that have been saved.”
Regarding this sensitive issue, he stated, “Given the pattern we have seen with patients in critical and serious condition, we must continue to insist that people seek medical attention the moment they note symptoms. The sooner the disease is identified, the sooner we can start treatment, which means a greater possibility of recovery.”
Diaz-Canel again referred to “the responsibility that parents have to keep their children home, not out playing on the street.” He also commented on the social indiscipline that is still evident in some areas. In this regard, he recalled complaints posted on the Presidency’s website criticizing individuals playing dominoes in the street, or continuing to frequent public places, late into the night.
“I believe,” he said, “that this call the population itself is making, is one we must all support.”
The President spoke about a number of experiences in different provinces, related to the care of the most vulnerable; the work of community members serving their neighbours at this difficult time, including the non-state sector, while commending the work of the National Revolutionary Police, providing information and controlling indiscipline – all of which can be extended to the rest of the country.
In his comments, Diaz-Canel directed the Ministry of Labor and Social Security to step up inspections, coordinated with provincial and municipal governments, to check compliance with measures to promote telecommuting, which, in his opinion, is not yet being used to its full potential. He likewise expressed concern about adherence to the policy that no person who is especially vulnerable to COVID-19, either because of age or health issues, be present in a workplace.
He urged the Ministry of Economy and Planning to “strengthen everything that supports food production, which is one of our fundamental tasks,” adding, “The fuel and resources we have already projected can be allocated now to agriculture, to meet plans for planting and food production, and this must begin to be regularly reviewed.”
He called for “the granting of land to be facilitated, with control but without bureaucracy, because there are people requesting it right now.”
First, he said, we must insist that those who have land produce more under these conditions, and on the other hand, anyone who wants to expand the land they hold in usufruct should be supported, adding, “Let’s not delay the procedures and not create obstacles to what we want to achieve in food production.”
Minister of Public Health José Ángel Portal Miranda presented the usual update on the situation of the pandemic worldwide and in Cuba, during the meeting.
Portal reported that on April 1, some 100,000 rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19 were transported to all provinces. These will be used to test vulnerable groups, including those with acute respiratory infections, the elderly, as well as those under observation in isolation centers, who had contact with confirmed cases or traveled abroad.
Referring to centres where Cuban citizens returning from abroad are isolated, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero stressed the importance of attending to these sites, responding to any problems that may arise, and maintaining regular monitoring of available capacity.
Compliance with measures being implemented by the Ministry of Transport was also reviewed during the meeting, as well as the performance of the Havana Provincial Defense Council – all as part of a central government work system that gives priority to the battle against COVID-19.
Granma
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