HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 29 (ACN) Important information on the fight against the Aedes Aegipty mosquito was provided by José Angel Portal Miranda, Minister of Public Health (MINSAP), during the regular Meeting of the Temporary Working Group for COVID-19 prevention and control, headed by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz.
Although the pandemic can be said to be under control, “we currently have dengue in six provinces of the country, which sets off alarm bells,” he said.
“We have to close ranks in each province using our experience in vector control,” Portal Miranda emphasized. He also referred to the case-finding efforts and to the need that the relevant bodies keep an eye on the health protocols in place and the detection of non-compliance with anti-epidemic measures and enforce sanitation procedures, as per the current legislation. “Remember that dengue kills”, he remarked.
Regarding this new situation, the President pointed out that Cuba is gradually and successfully eliminating COVID-19 despite WHO reports stating that there have been fresh outbreaks in several countries.
The second item on the agenda had to do with Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases and their risk factors in Cuba, about which experts pointed out that Cuba has implemented protocols to this end such as the Arterial Hypertension Program, with emphasis on the said factors and the need to approach them as diseases, namely smoking, alcoholism, and sedentary lifestyles.
“To COVID-19 we owe the loss of 8 529 Cubans”, he stressed, “but the four main causes of mortality, which account for almost 63% of all deaths in the country, are related to cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory illness, and diabetes. (…) Besides, Cuba has the second highest smoking rate of the Americas, only surpassed by Chile.”
President Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said that this is a battle that Cuba has to fight and win, “and we will support the current strategy first of all by raising awareness and urging people to strengthen their sense of responsibility and reinforce prevention.