World Health Day: Reasons to Celebrate in Cuba

Two years have just gone by since the first meeting between the country's leadership and the experts and scientists who lead science and technological innovation activities in the struggle against COVID-19.

It was when the pandemic first began to spread its tentacles on Cuba and, hand in hand with the taste, expertise and the participation of all Cubans, from responsibility and commitment, Cuba managed to design health protocols, behavior patterns and, finally, vaccines.

Today, although SARS-Conv2 is not gone, the country, thanks to what it was mentioned earlier has managed to overcome this unprecedented global challenge and right now, we are one of the nations with the highest levels of immunity reached by its population.

This is quite the achievement and today 89.5% of Cubans have the full vaccination schedule, which is equivalent to 9 918 63 people.

Just regarding this aspect, which is no small thing, we have reasons to celebrate the World Health Day, which today commemorates the entire planet and has done so since 1948, on the occasion of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO).

This time, the theme of World Health Day 2022 is "Our planet, our health", and in this sense, Cubans also have reasons to celebrate the day.

Cuba prioritizes human health in balance with the environment. This was announced at a recent press conference by Dr. Ileana Morales Suárez, National Director of Science and Technological Innovation of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP for its acronym in Spanish), who spoke abundantly on the actions carried out by our country in the face of the challenges that the environment faces today, and the entire planet.

Starting from the relation between the health of this Earth we inhabit and the health of the living beings that exist in it, Cuba prioritizes, through government policies, minimizing, from prevention, the risks to the environment.

In particular, the threats posed by climate change are assumed with a multidisciplinary State plan: La Tarea Vida (Task Life).

The Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment is responsible for implementing and controlling the tasks of this State Plan, which covers 12 areas, including: environmental health, epidemiology, vectors, science and technological innovation, teaching, communication and investments, according to Dr. Morales Suarez.

Among the main environmental problems Cuba faces are:

-Pollution in human settlements and inland and sea waters.

-Loss of forests and biological diversity.

-Degradation of soils, which threatens food sovereignty, goal and priority of the country.

A permanent commitment

During the High-Level Debate of the United Nations General Assembly "Climate Action: For the people, the planet and prosperity", held in October last year, the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, stressed that “The responsibilities and the possibilities that life on the planet can be saved are clear. It’s imperative that developed countries take the lead in reducing emissions and in providing the necessary means of implementation to developing countries, according to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities”.

Regarding Cuba's position, he recalled that "Our commitment to the protection of the environment and the full implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement has not changed, and we ratify it here."

On this World Health Day and every day afterwards, this Caribbean island continues to ratify -especially from a very concrete action-, what was affirmed then by the President: "We revolutionaries believe in the human beings, in everything they can achieve their intelligence and their will when there’s awareness. May we not lack awareness to save ourselves!”