Honorable Sr. Isata Kabia, Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs of Sierra Leone,
Distinguished Permanent Representatives and delegates,
The international cooperation developed by Cuba in terms of humanitarian assistance for epidemic disaster relief is a modality that responds to the fundamental principles of our National Health Care System and our foreign policy, whose key pillars are internationalism, humanism and solidarity.
The fight against Ebola can be described as the most dangerous and altruistic mission we have carried out in more than 55 years of international medical collaboration, given the characteristics of this highly contagious and lethal disease.
However, upon the request for assistance made to our Government by the United Nations and the World Health Organization, we decided to participate in this global effort, under the coordination of WHO, based on our experience, readiness and capacity to mobilize in a prompt and organized manner a large number of health professionals specialized in emergency health care.
From October 2014 to May 2015, Cuban medical brigades worked uninterruptedly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia for almost seven months. They dealt directly with the sick and also carried out preventive actions in communities, until the outbreak was controlled.
A total of 262 doctors and nurses were involved, selected among over 5,000 who volunteered. They were joined by the Cuban diplomatic personnel accredited in these three countries to support political and logistic arrangements with the authorities of the countries concerned. We are honored to have in our Mission in New York two of the diplomatic officers who were serving in those countries at that time.
A total of 2,167 cases were treated. Our collaborators also trained doctors and nurses from other countries and humanitarian organizations. There were only two human losses of Cuban collaborators who became infected with malaria, and only one who got sick with Ebola, Dr. Félix Báez Sarría, whose life was saved thanks to international cooperation.
Our main contribution to the prevention of the disease and the achievement of resilience, not only in the affected countries but in other nations of the continent, has been keeping Cuban medical brigades in Africa, with over 3,000 collaborators currently working in 28 countries, mainly in primary health care. On this basis, a training program has been developed, which includes prevention, community education, diagnosis and treatment of this and other communicable diseases.
We could say much more about this beautiful page of cooperation, one of many that we have accomplished to pay off our historical debt to Africa; but time is limited. Let me just express, on behalf of my government, our sincere gratitude for having been invited to this event as co-sponsors. It is not only a duty and an honor, but always a pleasure to share our views, dreams and hopes with our African brothers and sisters.
Thank you very much.