>From: "Jose G. Perez" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "Marxism List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Fidel: Cuba offers the WHO thousands of doctors for Africa >Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000 21:28:25 -0400 > > [The United Nations Millennium Summit has been marked by the frequent >expression of noble sentiments lofty goals. Fewer have been the concrete >measures proposed to reach those goals, and even fewer the leaders willing >to point the finger at those responsible for the current state of affairs. > > [Fidel Castro was one of the speakers at the summit who did that, who >called things by their right names. But he was also, as far as I know, the >ONLY leader to propose, not just that someone else do something or that the >international community in general do something, but who made a unilateral >offer on behalf of his own country to contribute to begin solving some of >these problems. > > [The offer was made at one of the less formal roundtable discussions at >the summit, which were totally ignored by the mainstream press. Following is >what Fidel said there, as published in Granma International] > >* * * > >Fidel offers necessary personnel for >medical aid to Africa > >Speech by President Fidel Castro Ruz, during Roundtable No. 2 of the >Millennium Summit, on the role of the United Nations in the 21st century, >United Nations, New York, September 7, 2000, Year of the 40th Anniversary of >the Decision of "Patria o Muerte." > >TRANSLATION OF THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE > >I have meditated a great deal about the seriousness of this subjects and a >series of data, but I think that this is a subject that has been discussed >for a more than 40 years, and actually we haven't progressed but rather gone >backwards. > >Proof of what I say is that at the present time, in more than 100 countries >per capita income is lower than it was 15 years ago. > > Everybody here has expounded the ideas they most wished to transmit within >the brevity of the time available, and I would like to say that I am >profoundly affected by issues related to the disastrous state of health >currently affecting the world, particularly in the Third World countries. I >don't really like using a lot of figures, but I am going to use some. > >Life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa barely reaches 48 years. This is 30 >years less than in the developed countries. > >In terms of the maternal death rate, 99.5% of all such deaths occur in the >Third World. > >The risk of maternal death in Europe is one per 1,400 births; in Africa it >is one per 16. The general mortality rate is similar. > >More than 11 million under-fives die every year in the Third World as a >result of preventable diseases in the overwhelming majority of cases: more >than 30,000 every day, 21 every minute. While we are talking here, 100 are >dying. > >Two out of every five children in the Third World countries suffer from >retarded growth, and one out of every three is underweight in relation to >age. > >Two million female children are forced into prostitution. > >In the underdeveloped countries, approximately 250 million children under >the age of 15 are obliged to work in order to survive. > >Many people have also talked here on the issue of AIDS. I had the impression >some months ago, at the meeting in Durban, that the tragedy of AIDS in >Africa had been discovered by the West, and at that conference, as was >widely reported by the news agencies, there was talk of how to reduce the >cost of medical care for persons infected with AIDS and keep them alive. We >all know that the cost is $10,000 USD per infected person. It was affirmed >there by representatives from the Western nations, European countries in >general, that cost-saving formulas had to be sought. Everyone knows that it >costs close to $1,000 USD per person with AIDS to produce those medicaments >and, starting from a perfect formula and a perfect cocktail, that amount >could be greatly reduced. But more than a few African representatives >expressed a hard reality: that even if they were donated the medicaments, >they lacked the infrastructure to distribute and administer them. > >On the other hand, I have also heard representatives from industrialized >countries like France, Sweden, Germany and others present here express their >disposition to help these Third World countries. > >This is a question of life or death. I was asking myself: what could we do? >I remind you that Cuba is a small country, and poor. And something else: >besieged and blockaded. But I don't want to talk to you about that. Thanks >to the intensive educational programs that have been developed over many >years, Cuba now has a significant human capital, and human capital is >decisive; I would say that it is even more important than financial capital. >And our country has sufficient medical personnel to cooperate-if the United >Nations agrees-with the World Health Organization and with the peoples of >sub-Saharan Africa, who are suffering from this destructive scourge to the >greatest degree, in order to organize the infrastructure needed to >administer those medications in Africa on an emergency basis. I am not >exaggerating. This could signify 1,000 doctors, 2,000 or 3,000 health >workers, including paramedics who would be needed to collectively undertake >that program. > >We don't have to wait for millions of children to die; a good proportion of >the 25 million persons infected could survive, thus averting growing numbers >of orphans, already close to 12 million, a figure which, in another few >years, will increase to 40 million, a Dantean tragedy! > >No country whatever its resources, can develop with 25-30% of its population >infected with AIDS and millions and millions of orphans. In my view, this >would really signify the extermination of entire African nations, and >possibly a large part of the African continent. That is the reality. > >For that reason, although I wasn't necessarily going to speak, I arrived >after the meeting opened because I was at the plenary session and, listening >to you, decided to propose this plan; thus, concretely: Cuba offers the >United Nations, the World Health Organization and the African countries the >personnel necessary for developing not only AIDS programs, but also other >health care programs, and also to give hands-on training there to technical >and nursing personnel. > >The first thing we do in the places we go to is to create a medical school. >Africa needs thousands of doctors in order to provide one doctor per 5,000 >inhabitants; our country has one doctor per 168 inhabitants. We have >experience in health care; currently some 2,000 doctors are doing an >excellent job working abroad. This is what I wish to propose concretely >here, in a spirit of cooperation. And hopefully the European countries, the >industrialized countries represented here, will take account of what I am >proposing and could make the effort to contribute to finding the >medicaments, to reducing their cost. > >What is taking place in the world is worse than warfare. In Africa one >million people die from malaria every year while 300-500 million are >infected; moreover, two million people die of AIDS, and for every two who >die, four to five are infected-we know there have not been sufficient >advances as yet for a vaccine and it's not known when that's going to >materialize-and three million die of tuberculosis. > >We are proposing, concretely, a program for Africa. I am not exaggerating in >the least and we are not seeking anything for ourselves. Wherever our >doctors go they do not talk about religion, or politics, or philosophy; they >have been fulfilling missions for years and have earned the greatest respect >and acknowledgement from the local population. > >I leave this proposition in the hands of this United Nations roundtable, and >that's it. > >Thank you very much, Mr. President. > > > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
