Cuba Sending 165 Health Workers to Sierra Leone

Cuba, "world-famous for its ability to train outstanding doctors and nurses and for its generosity in helping fellow countries on the route to progress," is sending 165 health workers to Sierra Leone. The Ebola case count in West Africa jumped again to 4,784 with deaths now at 2,400 - but the actual counts are estimated to be much higher. Charities' resources are stretched too thin - for example, Liberia has only 250 doctors left, for a population of four million, so Cuba's contribution is desperately needed.

….The death toll from the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa has reached 2,400 from at least 4,784 cases, chief of the World Health Organization, or WHO, Margaret Chan said Friday. Chan reportedly said at a U.N. news conference in Geneva that these numbers were likely understimated and that the deadly outbreak requires a massive emergency response.

….Cuba’s health ministry said Friday that it will send 165 health workers to Sierra Leone

….The health agency reportedly said that it needed another 500 foreign health professionals, and about 1,000 local doctors and nurses to assist in the fight against the virus.

“Cuba is world-famous for its ability to train outstanding doctors and nurses and for its generosity in helping fellow countries on the route to progress,” Chan said, in a statement.

WHO asks for more health workers to fight Ebola as death toll grows

Cuba's minister for public health, Roberto Morales Ojeda, said his country would be sending 165 healthcare workers to help in the fight - the largest contingent of foreign doctors and nurses to be committed so far.

…."Whatever number of cases and deaths we are reporting is an underestimate," she said. WHO director general Margaret Chan

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a reply to: soficrow

Well done to a country that has so little.

Kindest respects

Rodinus

That's great. Cuba has a long record of doctors doing things in third world counties. If i remember right one can go there and be trained to be a doctor for free. You just need to volunteer as a doctor for 2 years in poor places like that to pay for you education.

a reply to: soficrow

Good on Cuba!
It never ceases to amaze me how the much the media (in my country anyway) fails to highlight the achievements and positive characteristics of other nations. Had no idea Cuba was 'world renown' for training docs and nurses.

originally posted by: new_here
a reply to: soficrow

Good on Cuba!
It never ceases to amaze me how the much the media (in my country anyway) fails to highlight the achievements and positive characteristics of other nations. Had no idea Cuba was 'world renown' for training docs and nurses.

Cuba, a socialist country, regularly wins international awards for disaster relief and prepardedness and humanitarian action of the real type.

During the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina they offered to send doctors and medical assistance, but our lovely president at the time declined their kind offer. Cuba is no stranger to Hurricanes but rarely has any casualities as a result.

They are far from perfect but do some things (medicine, education) very well and - and for the correct reasons not for profit.

I travelled Cuba earlier this year and was amazed at how developed it's education and health system is.

Of course, Cuba is quite poor but no-one starves because of basic rations. It was astonishing to see hundreds of children spilling out of the very basic housing in pristine school uniforms. It's also true that higher education (even for medicine) is completely free and even funded by grants.

Really interesting place if I'm honest - and incredibly safe for tourists!

My aunt and uncle traveled there in the last year.
On science and education visas.
They both were quite amazed.

Kodos Cuba.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Yes - and it would be nice to see other, wealthier nations stepping up to the plate too with trained manpower.

Love Cuba, its such a different way of life that its almost fascinating. To see how they live with so little, and yet seem quite content. I know it has it's flaws, but it certainly is a refreshing break from our western capitalist utopia.

Very well trained doctors, as been mentioned previously.

Think Ill check out some trips....almost that time!

This is not a country or political issue it is a world issue.
All country's should be commended for contributing because if they are not then they will lose the political will to contribute.
Commend them and they will contribute more.

a reply to: soficrow

cool.

They will do allot of good. Cuba has REALLY good doctors.

Cuba is Poor as hell, but healthy like no ones business.

Looks like Liberia's been left out in the cold, waiting for American assistance. [Sierra Leone has Britain (and Cuba); Guinea has France.]

Liberian President Pleads With Obama for Assistance in Combating Ebola

The president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has implored President Obama for help ....

In a letter on Tuesday to Mr. Obama, Ms. Johnson Sirleaf wrote that “I am being honest with you when I say that at this rate, we will never break the transmission chain and the virus will overwhelm us.” She urgently requested 1,500 additional beds in new hospitals across the country and urged that the United States military set up and run a 100-bed Ebola hospital in the besieged capital, Monrovia.

Infectious disease experts have sharply criticized as inadequate the Obama administration’s response to the Ebola crisis, particularly in Liberia, a country founded by freed American slaves. ...

…..Britain has focused its assistance efforts on its former colony Sierra Leone, as British troops head there to build and staff a 63-bed facility near the capital, Freetown. France has sent medical experts to its former colony Guinea.

That leaves Liberia, with its historic ties to America’s antebellum era, in the United States’ hands. In an interview on Thursday, Ms. Johnson Sirleaf said a perception by other countries that the United States would take care of Liberia had hurt the country so far in the Ebola fight. She said a health expert with the French group Doctors Without Borders told her recently: “We’re French. You’ve got America behind you; why should we have to do this for you?”

A Feeble Response to Ebola

The spread of the Ebola virus across West Africa has been fast and deadly. ...

….Western media have fanned irrational fears, fueling panic about the spread of the virus to Europe and North America rather than calling for international assistance to combat the crisis in West Africa. The Western press blames superstition, myths and ignorance for the virus’s spread through the region — not the fact that West African facilities are inadequate and overwhelmed; government finances are already stretched to capacity; there is widespread corruption and poor coordination among government agencies; and the international response has been pitiful.

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