Havana, December 10 (RHC)-- Cuba is celebrating International Day of Human Rights, highlighting advances in health, education, popular participation and its fulfillment of international human rights instruments -- despite the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on the island for over half a century.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel highlighted on Monday the country's role in promoting and ensuring human rights.  On his Twitter account, he stated that in "dark corners of the world" where selfishness and the market close the roads of human development, it is always possible to find the children of the Revolution, missionaries of education and health, defending the rights of Humanity.”

Since January 1, 1959, Cuba has achieved great feats in the field of human rights, including its attention to people with disabilities, with efforts focused on the inclusion and development of this sector of society. 

According to Ministry of Health officials, Cuba has national programs designed to care for people with visual and hearing disabilities, including a renowned cochlear implant program.

It also has a nationwide genetics strategy for patients suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia-related conditions. 
Despite the tightening of the U.S. economic blockade, 35,523 disabled people in the country receive social assistance according to data from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, including single-parent families with disabled children among other sectors. 

In another Twitter post, the Cuban President citing Fidel said: "... man needs more than bread: he needs honor, he needs dignity, he needs respect, he needs to be treated truly like a human being, will there be any country that has done more for human rights than Cuba?”

In 2017 UNESCO, declared Cuba as one of the 15 states that in the world that apply the basic policies that guarantee the good brain development in children. Meanwhile, in 2015, it was declared the first country to eliminate mother to child transmission of HIV / AIDS and syphilis.