Havana, April 23 (RHC)-- The Third International Health Convention -- Cuba-Salud 2018 -- got underway Monday morning at Havana's Convention Center.  The convention runs until Friday, April 27th.  The 14th Health for All Trade Fair, which is being held in parallel, is taking place at the PABEXPO exhibition hall. 

According to Cristian Morales Furihman, representative of the Pan American and World Health Organization in Cuba, the experiences and successes of Cuba in the field of health are of extraordinary importance to the world.  First of all, because it occurs in a country with many difficulties, and which still suffers from the U.S. blockade.  

He noted that Cuba is a country that has scarce resources, and at the same time manages to be the first to be certified as eliminating the vertical transmission of HIV from mother to child and congenital syphilis; a country that eliminated malaria in 1970; which eliminated 12 vaccine-preventable diseases, which has achieved one of the highest life expectancies in the region, and  which has a child mortality rate of only four per thousand live births.

More than 2,000 representatives of some 80 countries from all continents will meet at Cuba-Salud 2018, and more than 150 personalities are taking part in the international convention.