Relevant contribution of Cuba to the Venezuelan health system
By: Roberto Morejón
To fulfil a basic principle of the Bolivarian Revolution, the Venezuelan government is promoting health service programmes, to which Cuba is making a decisive contribution.
The Venezuelan government has recently reaffirmed its commitment to expanding strategic alliances with sister countries in the health sector.
This statement accompanied a meeting in Caracas between Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and the Cuban Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda. The two ministers reaffirmed their alliance in matters of health participation.
Since 2000, both nations have deployed multiple initiatives for the common good as part of the Integral Cuba-Venezuela Agreement, originated by leaders Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro.
Notably, tens of thousands of doctors sent by Cuba have provided free healthcare to Venezuelans.
By the end of 2024, more than 255,000 Cuban healthcare professionals had worked in the South American country, performing more than one billion medical consultations and saving the lives of more than 1.49 million people.
These doctors contributed their knowledge and skills to health prevention strategies, such as the Humanised Childbirth Plan, which has sought to address teenage pregnancy since 2017.
The bilateral health agreement also covers the training of young Venezuelans in Havana and other cities in the Antilles, where the government expects tens of thousands of people to receive medical training.
According to official figures, over 22,000 doctors and hundreds of general practitioners have been trained as part of the alliance.
A few days ago, the two countries made mutual shipments of vaccines to meet immunisation needs.
Cuba provided Venezuela with 30 thousand polio vaccines and Venezuela supplied Cuba with 90 thousand doses of the bacterial dual vaccine, which protects against diphtheria and tetanus.
These and other exchanges between Cuba and Venezuela form part of the Bolivarian government's ambitious health development programmes.
In recent months, 120 Integral Diagnostic Centres, High Technology Centres and Integral Rehabilitation Rooms have been set up in Venezuela as part of central economic allocations totalling almost 170 million euros.
Cooperation in health matters between Cuba and Venezuela must overcome numerous obstacles arising from the sanctions and blockades imposed on both states by the United States.
