UNICEF together with Cuba

By María Josefina Arce

In times of pandemic, Cuba has counted on the invaluable support of UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, which since the sixties of the last century has accompanied the work of the Caribbean nation in favor of the well-being and integral development of its children and young people.

It has actively supported the Cuban health authorities in their confrontation with the UN agency's COVID-19, which has materialized with the donation of medical supplies, in view of the limitations imposed by the reinforcement of the US blockade in the midst of the world health emergency.

It is worth mentioning the delivery of oxygen concentrators for pediatric use, personal hygiene modules, masks and protective equipment for more than 12,000 health professionals.

UNICEF has been supporting the Greater Antilles since 1962, when vaccination campaigns against various diseases began in the country. Now, in the presence of the disease caused by the new coronavirus, it has been no different. The agency donated supplies to strengthen the cold chain, necessary for the conservation of the vaccines developed by our scientists. 

The delivery of syringes also came to support the process that is being successfully developed and extended to pediatric ages. In fact, Cuba became the first nation in the world to develop an immunization campaign among its children and young people, with its own supplies of proven efficacy and safety. 

But UNICEF also helped Cuba's strategy to maintain, albeit at a distance at first, the learning of the youngest children and, later on, the return to the classroom, after the improvement of the epidemiological situation throughout the country. 

Thus, it provided digital thermometers and sanitary and hygienic material to avoid a resurgence of COVID 19 in the different educational centers of the Cuban archipelago.

In addition, together with the Office of the Historian of the city of Havana, it launched the initiative "Living adolescence in times of COVID 19", to promote safe environments for this age group in a situation of social isolation. 

Professors from the University of Havana and the "Enrique José Varona" Higher Pedagogical Institute participated in this project, which made it possible to exchange experiences and suggestions on ways to use the time spent in confinement to acquire new knowledge and skills.

Long and fruitful is the history of collaboration between Cuba and Unicef, which has supported the National Mother and Child Program, the Community Doctor and Nurse Program and the "Educate your child" initiative, designed by the authorities to promote non-formal education for children of the first ages who do not attend children's institutions. 

The UN agency recognizes the government's political will to guarantee the human rights of its children and young people, while the Caribbean state, for its part, has repeatedly expressed its gratitude for UNICEF's accompaniment throughout all these decades.

Cuba and the UN Children's Fund are interested in continuing to work together for the health, education, protection and welfare of Cuban children and adolescents, a priority of the Revolution.