On February 4th, 2021, the Government of Namibia ratified its proposal to nominate the “Henry Reeve” Cuban International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics, for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
In a statement from the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, President Hage Geingob's administration stated: "This nomination is rooted in recognition of the extensive work of the Cuban brigades in exporting Cuba's medical talent for the benefit of all communities around the world.
"Namibia makes this proposal as a sustained commitment to the recognition of health as a fundamental right. Cuba has demonstrated global citizenship par excellence, sponsoring international solidarity, despite the economic and financial embargo that severely constrains the country," the statement added.
Four years after this act of solidarity and gratitude, the Republic of Namibia maintains Cuban collaboration in the health sector with a medical brigade of more than 90 professionals from 27 specialties, present in 16 hospitals spread across eleven of the fourteen regions of this African nation.
Ambassador Sergio Vigoa de la Uz visited these areas during a journey to the north of the country and confirmed the high esteem in which the work of our doctors is held in the institutions and among the residents of these places, the most remote and inhospitable in Namibia.
In Oshakati, Opwo, Rundu, Katima Mulilo, and Otjiwarongo, the diplomat learned firsthand about the extraordinary work of our professionals, who are waging a tough battle against dangerous diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and diabetes; and against other ailments typical of these remote regions, such as attacks and bites by wild animals.
Although the country's official language is English, not all natives speak it. Thus, our doctors have learned to communicate in Oshiwambo, Afrikaans, Otjiherero, Herero, Kavango, Nama, and Ovambo, languages of the poorest people who still suffer from multidimensional poverty and limited access to basic services.
In these rural areas facing extreme natural challenges such as droughts and floods, Cuban specialists work long hours, with little rest and in some cases they can´t almost rest.
Vigoa de la Uz recognized the work of these men and women in white coats who bring science and caring to residents living in precarious housing, with limited access to drinking water, sanitation, and electricity, and who come to consultations confident that their lives and those of their families will be saved.
Coming from almost all over the island, some young, others more experienced, the Cuban professionals expressed their gratitude to the Cuban ambassador for the opportunity to come to Africa, especially to Namibia, a nation with a long and rich history of brotherhood with the Cuban people.
Three months after independence, the first Cuban collaborators arrived in the "land of the brave". In 2013, the first official agreement between the two countries on this type of exchange was signed, and under this alliance, more than 1,200 collaborators have worked here.
This wonderful program, which began on May 23, 1963, in Algeria, the date that marks the official beginning of Cuban medical collaboration worldwide, now boasts more than 600,000 collaborators who have provided their services in 165 nations. Currently, more than 24,000 collaborators are in 56 countries, offering their humanity and solidarity.
During the exchanges, the ambassador spoke with the doctors about the U.S. government's desperate campaign to block cooperation with the perverse intentions of closing off all avenues of income to the country and wiping out the Cuban model.
"In its policy of suffocation - he commented - the Donald Trump administration has adopted a harsher line and has stated that it would withdraw travel visas for officials from the countries hosting the medical brigades. This is part of the cynical plan conceived by the Cuban-born far right.
"They will not be able to sully the history of Cuban medicine. This is the work of a great humanist like Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, who spoke of the value of the conscience and ethics of our health professionals and described medical collaboration as a genuine example of solidarity", he concluded.