HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 29 (ACN) Cuba reiterated today its support and commitment to the fulfillment of the Montevideo Consensus and the Cairo Programme of Action during the High-Level Panel on the socio-demographic impact of the pandemic and the main challenges and progress in the implementation of this instrument on Population and Development.
Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment (MINCEX), reaffirmed Cuba’s commitment to work within the framework of this Regional Conference to meet its objectives and remarked that Cuba has concentrated its efforts on maintaining and enforcing social policies and benefits for the protection and care of the population.
An example of this is the revision of “Government Commission for studies on Demographic Dynamics and Population Aging”, implemented in 2011 to address the main challenges facing the country as regards population-related issues such as low fertility rates and a very advanced demographic transition, he explained.
The minister referred to the approval and implementation of a National Program for the Advancement of Women (PAM) to reinforce gender equity, as well as to the establishment of the National Commission Against Racism and Racial Discrimination and a number of policies to protect children and young people.
He also stressed that Cuban offers its experience and limited resources to address demographic development issues and, specifically, the country’s capacity to tackle the pandemic and its effects, which explains Cuba’s 0.77% fatality rate, one of the lowest in the world, and why Cuba was the first country in the world to immunize its 2 to 18 age group with vaccines developed by Cuban scientists and has been able to send medical aid workers to fight the pandemic in 42 countries.