Latin American Press

By María Josefina Arce

The International Human Rights Day surprises the world with 713 million poor, more than 700 million illiterate and 345 million hungry, the latter figure increased in the first months of 2022.

The two years of the COVID 19 pandemic dealt a severe blow to the world's efforts to reduce these scourges and to guarantee these prerogatives to all people.

Even in the midst of a difficult economic situation generated by the strong incidence of the virus on the planet, added to the reinforcement of the U.S. blockade, Cuba, while providing medical care to those infected, maintained priority programs of its health system, free and universal since the triumph of the revolution in January 1959.

Access to health services, without any kind of discrimination, has made it possible for life expectancy in the Greater Antilles to be over 78 years.

Likewise, the vaccination campaigns launched since the 1960s have led to the elimination in our country of diseases such as polio, diphtheria, tetanus in newborns and whooping cough, among others, which are still a health problem in many nations.

In these more than 24 months, alternatives were also sought to guarantee the continuity of studies at all levels of education. No child or young person was left without classes, because in our country education, which broadens opportunities in life, is a right of all and a responsibility of the state.

International organizations such as UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, have recognized the results of Cuba's policies on inclusive and quality education.

Cuba has an enrollment rate in primary education of 99.7%, while in secondary and pre-university education it is 90.2%.

In our country, the rights of persons with disabilities have always been respected, a political will of the state reinforced in the new Family Code, approved last July by the National Assembly of People's Power and endorsed by the people last September.

In fact this document, enriched with the criteria of experts, legislators and citizens, reinforces the affection, solidarity and protection of the vulnerable sectors of society.

In spite of a criminal blockade imposed by the United States for sixty years that affects important spheres, the Cuban government has not ceased to work for the welfare of the population, and has also contributed modestly so that in other nations the most humble people can have access to human rights such as health and education.