Cuban help to Africa cannot be ignored

MORE than 100,000 Cuban specialists and technicians have provided services in cooperation with Africa over the last 45 years, it was reported on Wednesday at the 13th International Seminar on Current Problems in Africa and the Middle East held in Havana.

Representatives of Cuba’s Ministry for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation informed delegates at the event, held in the Casa de Africa in Old Havana, that Cuba has provided that cooperation for the benefit of millions of people.

Likewise, it has assisted countries facing problems such as illiteracy, famine, preventable and curable diseases, low birth weight babies and underweight children, and high infant and maternal mortality rates, along with nations with citizens who are part of the more than 29 million people infected with HIV/AIDS.

Cuban internationalists have built bridges, roads, schools, hospitals, factories, and laboratories, and have taught new techniques for planting, protecting forests, raising and managing animals and promoting the fishing industry, ministry representatives explained.

They said one milestone in this field over this period was the almost 34,000 African students who have graduated from Cuban schools, while Cuban medical collaboration has been and continues to be the largest, most stable and most present in Africa.

As an example, they explained that from 1999 to 2007, more than 857,000 human lives have been saved through the Comprehensive Health Program; likewise, more than 36.29 million medical consultations have been made, more than 626,000 surgeries had been performed and 549,826 births had been attended.