STATEMENT BY THE BOTSWANA-CUBA FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION ON THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2021 FOR CUBA’S HENRY REEVE INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL BRIGADE
The Botswana-Cuba Friendship Association endorses the international campaign to award the Nobel Peace Prize 2021 to the Cuban Henry Reeve Brigade, due to its valuable contribution to the well-being and healthcare of millions of people in the world.
The Brigade is a humble expression of the Cuban Revolution commitment to bring medical assistance and humanitarian care to other peoples and countries, even despite the more than six decades of reinforced US government policy of blockade against the Island.
It was launched in 2005 to assist in natural disaster e.g. floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and epidemics. Since then about 71 brigades, consisting of more than 9,000 health professionals, have travelled to approximately 50 countries, like Peru, Haiti, Pakistan and various African nations to fight Ebola, sharing their scientific knowledge and souls, with a message of hope.
This behavior fully exemplifies Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade, which have provided emergency medical assistance to more than 3.5 million people and have saved more than 80,000 lives.
The initiative of its nomination comes out in times of great challenges for humanity and, consequently, moments when there is an urgent necessity for international cooperation and solidarity. Covid-19 has already taken more than a million lives across the globe.
In the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic these brave women and women have been dispatched to 39 countries and territories across all continents, organized in brigades with specialized doctors and other health-care professionals. Other requests for cooperation are underway, constituting the only international medical contingent to provide a scientific and humanitarian response to the pandemic on a global scale.
The Botswana-Cuba Friendship Association is honored to join countless other civic organizations, academics, parliamentarians, friends, etc. in endorsing the nomination of the Henry Reeve contingent for the Nobel Peace Prize 2021. Altruism, humanism and solidarity distinguish what the Nobel Peace Prize should be about.
Ruth Brown
President
Botswana-Cuba Friendship Association
October 14th 2020