By Maria Josefina Arce.

Cuban health professionals are carrying out commendable work in the region of Calabria, which has had a profound impact on the people of this southern Italian region with a high shortage of health workers that threatened the closure of health facilities.

The Italian people are already familiar with the humanism, selflessness and professionalism of Cuban doctors. Two brigades of the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialised in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics helped in that European nation to confront COVID 19.

In Crema and Turin, together with their Italian colleagues, they fought the virus at a difficult time for the country, given the high number of infected and dead.

Now they are back in Calabria, marking a new stage in the health collaboration between the two states, which was strengthened following the global health emergency caused by the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

Mirta Granda, Cuban ambassador to Italy, pointed out that the current medical aid from the Caribbean nation reaffirms that cooperation is possible between two countries with different political systems, but with common interests such as guaranteeing the right to life and health of the population.
In one year of work, until the end of 2023, the specialists from the Greater Antilles had carried out 104,520 consultations in internal medicine, paediatrics and gynaecology, among other specialities.

They have also performed more than 7,000 surgical interventions, including 4,913 on minors. In addition, X-rays and high-tech tests have been carried out.Cuba's medical cooperation with the Italian region of Calabria is part of the Cuban revolution's long history of solidarity. For more than 60 years our health professionals have left an indelible mark in different parts of the world.

In the face of natural disasters, they have provided assistance to the victims, but they have also helped to improve the health indices of numerous countries.The gratitude and affection of the authorities and the people they have helped is high, and our country is proud to have true heroes and guardians of life.