Cuba to chair World Health
Assembly
• Cuba will chair, for the first
time, the 6th World Heath
Assembly, taking place May
19-24, 2015, in Geneva, announced the Ministry of
Public Health (MINSAP)
Dr. Antonio González, head of MINSAP department of
international organizations, explained that Cuba has
been chosen, in large part because of the results
and impact of its health initiatives, within the
country and internationally.
In Cuba, 2013 the infant mortality rate was 4.2 for
every 1,000 live births,
the lowest in the Americas.
Foto:
Anabel Díaz
Cuba has achieved virtually all UN Millennium
Development Goals. The infant mortality rate in 2013
was 4.2 for every 1,000 live births, the lowest in
the Americas – including the U.S. and Canada, and
the rate of maternal mortality was 21 per 1,000, one
of the lowest in Latin America, he said.
In addition, Cuba has reportedly controlled AIDS,
tuberculosis (TB) and malaria epidemics, Dr.
González
pointed out,
also commenting that AIDS in not an epidemiological
problem, as in other countries, and antiretroviral
medicines are available to those who need them.
Malaria was eradicated during the 1960’s, earning
Cuba accreditation to the effect, from the World
Health Organization (WHO), Dr. González recalled.
Through vaccination campaigns, Cuba has been able to
eradicate other transmittable illnesses such as
polio, diphtheria,
whooping cough, neonatal tetanus and rubella, with a
vaccination regimen designed to protect against 13
diseases, he said.
Dr. González - who will be presiding during the
event - said that the Assembly’s agenda was
prepared in February, 2013, by the WHO 134th
Executive Council, which includes 34 countries
throughout the world; adding that, 67 issues and 17
resolutions will be under consideration, with two
work commissions meeting, to debate health
techniques and administrative issues.
On her last visit to Cuba Dr.
Margaret Chan, director of the WHO, described Cuba
as an exemplary health care model. She praised the
important contribution made by Cuban health workers
abroad, and the country’s efforts to train medical
personnel from other nations, and thus improving
health indicators.
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