>Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit > >Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 11 July 2000 23:30 > > >*WORKING COMMISSIONS PRIOR THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CONTINUES >*CUBA IS COMMEMORATING WORLD POPULATION DAY >*THE PRESIDENT OF CUBA'S SPORTS INSTITUTE MEETS WITH > NIGERIA'S MINISTER OF STATE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS >*THE IBERO AMERICAN WOMEN ARCHITECT AND ENGINEERS TO MEET > IN CUBA NEXT OCTOBER >*Viewpoint: AIDS STILL A MAJOR HEALTH THREAT IN SOUTHERN AFRICA > > >*WORKING COMMISSIONS PRIOR THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CONTINUES > >Havana, July 11 (RHC) - Cuba's Ministry of Light Industry4s performance over >the last five years, in analyzing its future potential, was the thematic >focus of Cuba's National Assembly gathered at Havana's Convention Center. >Luis Alberto Chirino is covering the event and filed this report: > >"Jesus Perez Othon, Light Industry Minister presented the deputies with >detailed report of the sector's 125 enterprises, during the economic crisis >and the following five years. The document explained the steady recovery of >this economic sector which directly influences the life of Cubans, since its >major source of basic necessity items. According to the report, the Cuban >Light Industry's strategy for the next five years, includes an increase, by >30 per cent, of its overall production to earn 25 million dollars from >exports, doubling the figures scheduled for the year 2000; to increase sales >to the internal dollar market in order to reach 245 million dollars in >revenues; to achieve a 1.5 percent growth rate in sales to the tourist >sector; and to add 16 million dollars more to the financing of products >destined to the population in Cuban pesos. That strategy said, Minister >Perez Othon will guarantee efficiency and quality of its island's textile >industry, a higher technological development of other sectors, like the shoe >industry and the compensation of scheduled developments, among other >factors. The Cuban Light Industry saw a dramatic fall in production during >the recent years of the economic crisis faced by the island. But 1994 marked >the sector's recovery process which was characterized by a modernization of >its technology, and labor strategy in factories and workshops, a wage >strategy based on payments according to production results and the creation >of better working conditions and the improvement of labor disciplines. The >Cuban Parliament will open its 5th session on Wednesday at Havana's >Convention Center. In Havana I am Luis Alberto Chirino." > > >*CUBA IS COMMEMORATING WORLD POPULATION DAY > >Havana, July 11 (RHC)-Cuba is commemorating World Population Day with a >number of scientific activities sponsored by the Cuban Population Society, >the National Economist Association and the UN Population Fund office in >Havana. > >Among other activities, there will be an informative panel on education and >reproductive health and sexuality. In addition, an exhibition and debate on >population and development, including a contest on the theme, will be >announced. > >It is important to point out that Cuba has achieved measures of control over >demographic growth common in many industrialized countries. Cuba's >extensive, accessible, and free health care system, in conjunction with >socio-economic structures providing a decent standard for its population, >has served to increase life expectancy to 75 years of age on the island. > > >*THE PRESIDENT OF CUBA'S SPORTS INSTITUTE MEETS WITH NIGERIA'S MINISTER > OF STATE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS > >Havana, July 11 (RHC)-The President of Cuba's Sports Institute, Humberto >Rodriquez, met on Monday with Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs who >expressed his desire to broaden sports relations with the island. > >The Cuban leader elaborated on the island's sports development, integral >programs in education, health and the elderly. > >He also praised the quality of Nigeria's soccer team which which was a >strong competitor in the world championships. > >The Nigerian official thanked Cuba for its sports cooperation. Cuba >currently has specialists in boxing and track and field in the African >nation. > >The Nigerian official arrived in Havana last Sunday heading a delegation on >the occasion of the second session of the intergovernmental joint commission >for economic and scientific technical cooperation scheduled to kick off on >Wednesday in the Cuban capital. > > >*THE IBERO AMERICAN WOMEN ARCHITECT AND ENGINEERS TO MEET IN CUBA > NEXT OCTOBER > >Havana, July 11 (RHC)- The conference on Ibero American Women Architects and >Engineers will be held in Cuba, next October, with the participation of >delegates from at least 10 countries. > >Delegates from Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, Spain, Mexico, Dominican >Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela have confirmed their participation in the >event. > >The organizers of the event did not rule out the possibility of having more >foreign specialists attend the meeting, in particular, to exchange >experiences and ideas with their Cuban colleagues concerning social >integration. > > >*Viewpoint: AIDS STILL A MAJOR HEALTH THREAT IN SOUTHERN AFRICA > >The African continent is plagued by a disease for which there currently is >no cure. The medical condition is known as AIDS and roughly 70 percent of >the African populace suffers from it in one form or another. > >Some medical practitioners have termed the disease the "Black Plague" of the >21st century. > >The root causes of AIDS are related to high levels of poverty and >underdevelopment. The lack of resources with which to treat this condition >has produced unparalleled catastrophe in Africa, among other areas of the >world. So far, there are some 34 million cases of AIDS registered in the >world, out of which 18 million have been fatal. Such an alarming mortality >rate has been controlled only in countries with adequate scientific >resources and access to expensive medicines that serve to prolong the lives >of the infected while they wait for a vaccine. > >In Africa alone there are some 24 million AIDS victims, and medical experts >fear that the situation will get worse before it gets better due to a >shortage of information and adequate prevention programs. In order to attain >an accurate picture of resource shortages in Africa, for instance, there are >less telephones per capita than in the New York borough of Manhattan, >according to recent statistics. The same scenario is replicated in the area >of mass communications. Without access to necessary information concerning >the nature and content of AIDS, Africans will continue to become infected. >Shortages in condoms alone eliminate an effective preventative measure >against the disease. > >Experts state that Africa needs a minimum of 3 billion dollars to implement >effective programs against AIDS. The World Bank has offered 500 million, and >it is possible that some more money may be collected from international >financial institutions and donor countries. It would be more effective, >however, for African nations to be exonerated from the crushing foreign >debts that absorb such a large part of their national budgets, simply to pay >interests. Africa's foreign debt amounts to over 350 billion dollars, while >33 of the world's 48 poorest nations are located in that continent. >Temporary solutions like donations, loans, and debt wavers would certainly >help the situation but, in the long term, international economic structures >must be radically altered to provide an even playing field for developing >nations. Conditions governing unequal exchange must be restructured in order >for the world's poor to better their standard of living. Abject poverty only >worsens and precipitates calamities such as AIDS. 13 of the 18 million AIDS >mortalities have been Africans. > >The socio-economic problems currently besieging the Third World need to be >addressed if medical catastrophes are to be controlled. Loans and donations, >while certainly positive in the short term, are a poor substitute for unjust >and inequitable political and economic structures. > >The world's marginalized masses, as the majority, must be incorporated into >the international economy as an equal player. Their numbers must translate >into political power if any positive change is to take place. > >Hunger and poverty need to be eliminated, first and foremost, in order to be >able to focus and tend to preventable and curable diseases. > >(c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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