Address by Dr. José Angel Portal Miranda, Minister of Public Health of the Republic of Cuba, at the 76th World Health Assembly

May 22, 2023

Centrl Theme: "Who celebrates 75 years of saving lives and promoting health for all"

Mr. President;

Esteemed Director-General;

Excellencies,

More than seven decades of saving lives and promoting health for all is a fact that deserves to be celebrated and we do so. The World Health Organization has contributed significantly, since its establishment in 1948, to healing the world as we were then, marked by the recently concluded deadliest health emergency in history.

The world has changed a great deal in these 75 years, and so our Organization. That is why we must also look at this new anniversary as an appropriate time to assess challenges and prospects, in order to continue improving the health of all, in a context where the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic is becoming increasingly evident.

Assessing the multiple lessons learned from fighting the virus and implementing actions accordingly are extremely urgent priorities for our health systems on the road to strengthening them.

What we have experienced in recent years makes clear that humanity needs more than ever resilient health systems, with the capacity to move towards universal health coverage, guaranteeing the right to health for all and the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Special attention must continue to be paid to the effects of climate change, which requires the drawn up and implementation of comprehensive action plans to monitor and analyze its real consequences.

At the same time, it is urgent to promote actions to address and minimize the risks to people's health posed by social determinants, the existence of which may condition the outbreak of new health emergencies.

Changing the trend of essential indicators such as maternal and child health, vaccination coverage and the control of non-communicable diseases, in which a setback has been experienced during the last period, takes the joint effort of all member states.

These are realities conditioned by the international economic order imposed on the world, which commercialize access to health services instead of guaranteeing them as an inalienable right for all human beings.

Mr. President,

Public Health in Cuba is a right of all people and it is the responsibility of the State to guarantee access, free of charge and quality of care, protection and recovery services, based on a deep notion of solidarity and universal coverage.

These foundations that support the work of the National Health System represent in Cuba the greatest strength to successfully face the complex scenario brought about by the outbreak of COVID-19.

The capacity of our healthcare system to adapt to the different moments of the country's development, as well as to the population's healthcare needs, was of paramount importance.

During that difficult period, health management was supported, among other things, by access to innovative drugs, the result of the development of the Cuban biopharmaceutical industry.

Cuba came up with five vaccine candidates, three of which were developed into vaccines that facilitated the roll-out of an unprecedented national vaccination campaign, immunizing more than 98% of the vaccine-eligible Cuban population over two years of age.

The control of COVID-19 pandemic was not an easy task for Cuba. In addition to facing the devastating consequences of COVID-19, we also had to cope with the tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the US Government, plus the arbitrary designation of my country as a State sponsor of terrorism.

These facts have brought about and bring an unquestionable obstacle to the development and strengthening of the National Health System in all its areas of action, limiting access to treatments, supplies and state-of-the-art equipment that would benefit the Cuban population.

Mr. President,

In the international context where integration and cooperation are increasingly essential to bring health services to underprivileged territories, we are proud that in the last 60 years, more than 600 000 Cuban health professionals have provided medical care in 164 nations.

Cuba, which has succeeded in complying with the principle of "health for all", shares its experiences and knowledge with the World Health Organization and its member states.

Strengthening and improving our healthcare systems are challenges that we have to work on constantly in a responsible way, in order to achieve real access to healthcare services for all people. What we do today will shape the future that we can bequeath to the next generations.

Thank you very much.

(Cubaminrex-Permanent Mission of Cuba in Geneva)