It is an understatement to say that the world is now gripped in fear of the dreaded Ebola virus. Certainly, its opening assault, persistence and spread in its original location of Guinea, then to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal sounded the alarm bells, as it began its deadly collection, of over 4,000 deaths and 8,000 infected cases, according to recent reports. But now with its apparent threat in European Spain, a recent death in the United States, and now a reportedly diagnosed case in Brazil, the inevitable must certainly be asked – Is the world on the threshold of another deadly pandemic since ‘Black Death’, that reaped a grim harvest of between 75 million to 200 million people in the 14th century?
The powers that be have acknowledged not only the ongoing toll of lives taken, but also the destruction of the already fragile socio-economic infrastructure of the most severely affected states, and the threat that this deadly virus, if not checked, can cause to global stability and peace.
As a result of this stark projection, the key multi-lateral agencies together with their principals have drawn up what can be described as contingency plans in the form of financial aid, and specialist personnel that should already be on their way to the severely stricken states.
Cuba, is one of the countries that has announced sending a team of medical personnel, consisting of over 60 doctors and in excess of one hundred nurses to the gravely struck African countries. Now this island, which declared communist ideology in 1959, after the well-known Fidel Castro – led revolution seized power, has had to endure a crippling economic embargo, compliments of the United States of America, since then. It has stagnated the island’s socio-economic development, to such an extent, that vehicles of the 1950s made are still a common sight on Cuban roads, concomitant with a reported estimate of 500,000 houses in the Havana capital, badly in need of repairs.
But despite this perennial adversity, this island has developed what is definitely the most efficient medical system in this part of the Hemisphere. Not only has its universities trained tens of thousands of doctors throughout the decades, for health care services throughout the island, but it has also been sending these medical personnel to regions such as Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean – all in the spirit of international fraternity. Guyana has been a prime recipient of Cuban doctors dating back to the seventies. In fact, most of our young doctors have been trained in Cuba, as well as many others from the Caribbean.
It is not traditional for states such as Cuba with its struggling economy, that had been mostly kept alive by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the cold war, to be volunteering such vital support to countries that are threatened by a viral decimation, as Ebola. But this has always been Cuba’s line in rendering assistance to countries that have faced natural disasters; whether in the form of technical expertise such as engineers and agronomists, and now medical specialists as is the current case.
Notwithstanding its still consistent and unswerving embrace of its institutional ideology, Cuba must be commended for its continued practice, of fraternal brotherhood among nations, with its tenet of willing and ready assistance in times of distress.