La Demajagua Newspapers.
| Cuba Promotes South-South Health Cooperation |
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| Written by ACN |
| Wednesday, 18 November 2009 14:41 |
 HAVANA.- Cuba's cooperation in the medical sector with more than 100 countries since the early years of the Revolution was one of the main topics discussed on Tuesday during the Global Forum for Health Research that is underway at Havana's Convention Center.
During a session dedicated to health cooperation among countries of the South in which panelists from Africa, Asia and Brazil participated, Cuban Dr. Nestor Marimon recalled that, since 1963, more than 172,000 Cuban doctors and other professionals have made their contribution in other nations. "This assistance has not been conditioned and it is the result of a national consensus and a political will that has contributed to the improvement of health levels in many countries," the Director of Foreign Relations at the Cuban Public Health Minister told ACN. "In the last ten years, for example, Cuba's medical brigades have saved more than two million lives and have performed 2,695,000 surgeries," he added. Cuba has also worked in the opening of 160 hospital centers in several countries with the assistance of secondary attention specialists and 750 units for primary attention. Marimon recalled that another significant contribution of the Caribbean nation was the opening, a decade ago, of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), an initiative conceived by the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro. The project has expanded to all medical institutes and faculties across the country and 7,256 youths from 30 nations have already graduated from this center in Havana. "More than 21,000 students from several countries are currently being trained in Cuba as part of this project," he added. During a recent visit to Havana, Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of World Health Organization (WHO) said that ELAM is "a commitment and a contribution to a better training of the health professionals that the world needs today." |