New York, 13 June 2017. During annual sessionof the UNICEF Executive Board, Cuba highlighted last year’s achievements despite the challenges still ahead to accomplish the welfare of those boys and girls, which constitute almost half of the 900 million people who live with less than 1,90 dollars a day.
Within this framework, the Cuban delegate Biana Leyva expressed that despite the systematic existence of the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba, the nation continues to advance in terms of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Cuban official explained that as part of the economic model updating process which Cuba is involved in, there has always been an explicit commitment on the side of its Government and its institutions to maintain the achievements as to the protection of children and adolescents.
Hence, she illustrated that Cuba became the first country worldwide certified as free of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and congenital syphilis. Likewise, it portrays an infant mortality rate under five per 1,000 live births.
While highlighting and thanking the support of UNICEF in the recovery process from the damages of Matthew hurricane, she concluded with the call to continue strengthening the presence and support of UNICEF in Cuba and in the middle- income countries all together.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations