Havana, Sep 19 (Prensa Latina) The first deputy minister of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health, Tania Cruz, today praised the courageous and humanistic work of the Henry Reeve internationalist contingent of doctors specializing in disasters and major epidemics, on its 20th anniversary.
In her keynote address for the anniversary, the official reviewed the work of the brigade. Since its creation, 90 groups with 13,000 professionals have provided services in 55 countries, saved the lives of 166,000 people, and treated more than eight million patients.
He considered the precursor activities of this initiative created in 2005 by then Cuban President Fidel Castro (1926-2016) to be essential for its creation.
In 1960, when an earthquake devastated Chile, 25 Cuban health professionals arrived in that nation. They didn’t carry weapons, but rather stethoscopes and hope, Cruz emphasized.
Between 1960 and 2005, 30 medical brigades were deployed in 19 countries, the director recalled, noting that they faced hurricanes, earthquakes, epidemics, and even the wrath of volcanoes.
He recounted the beginnings of the Contingent, created after a category five hurricane swept through the southern United States, especially the city of New Orleans, which was devastated.
Cuba offered its help and the United States rejected it, but the world never forgot the gesture, he stressed.
Cuban collaborators, he recalled, have since worked in the thick snow of the Himalayas, under the intense sun of the Middle East, in Africa, in America, from the Rio Grande to Patagonia, in the Caribbean, and in old Europe.
Of these brigades, three fought Ebola in West Africa, and 58 confronted the COVID-19 pandemic in 42 countries with more than 3,000 volunteers.
At another point, he highlighted the tributes this contingent has received around the world, especially from international organizations, including the Dr. Lee Jong-wook Memorial Public Health Prize awarded by the World Health Organization and the nomination for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, supported by more than 100 nations and NGOs.
The ceremony, held at the headquarters of the Central Medical Cooperation Unit, was led by Yuniasky Crespo, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and head of the Department of Social Sector Care; Deputy Prime Minister Eduardo Martínez; and Minister of Public Health José Ángel Portal, who presented awards to the various brigades. A plaque commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Henry Reeve contingent was also presented.
The contingent is named after Henry Reeve (1850-1876), an American who joined the island’s independence struggle against Spanish colonialism in the second half of the 19th century. A show of solidarity that is now reciprocated, according to experts.
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