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Cuba: a protected population Granma International In spite of severe economic limitations, climactic difficulties – with a very severe drought in the country’s eastern region – and increased hostility on the part of the U.S. government, Cuba has managed, during these 12 months since July 2003, to protect its population, without exception. July 11 is celebrated annually as World Population Day. It was designated as such by the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), because on that date in 1987 the five billionth inhabitant of our planet was born: a little boy named Matej Gaspar, in former Yugoslavia. Every July 11, a prioritized issue is chosen related to support for the population’s well being. The issue for 2004 is that of the medical protection necessary for pre- and postpartum mothers, which is deficient in many countries. That deficient or nonexistent attention – according to a July 11th message from Thoraya Obaid, UNFPA executive director – resulted in the death of 539,000 women last year. These vain losses have emotional, social and economic consequences that are catastrophic and affect the planet’s entire population, without exception, she emphasized. For Cuba, World Population Day is an opportunity to assess what has been achieved during the last 12 months and to chart new goals. The country can be proud of itself. Maternal and infant deaths have been reduced to their lowest levels. Health services are available to the entire population without exception, with an emphasis on primary care and preventative health, with the family doctor and nurse as the central axis. During 2002, maternal mortality in Cuba had one of the lowest rates in Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of the developing world, comparable only to the most developed countries. That year, 44 women died from causes directly related to pregnancy or birth, for a figure of 31.1 for every 100,000 live births. With respect to infant mortality, Dr. Miriam Gran, of the Ministry of Public Health, informed Granma International that it continues to be lowest in the Latin American and Caribbean region, with 6.3 deaths for every 1,000 live births in 2002. Life expectancy continues to grow. From an average of 74.83 years during the four-year period of 95-98, it went up to 76.15, and it is expected that it will continue to rise, Gran commented. One of the deadliest pandemics in history is under control in Cuba: the HIV/AIDS virus, which has one of the world’s lowest rates of infection on the island, 0.07% of the population aged 15-49. As far as education, it is universal and mandatory until 9th grade. The Cuban state guarantees schools and teachers for all: boys and girls, equally, independently of where they live, whether in urban or rural areas, including the most remote areas. With UNFPA’s support, sexual education is included in junior high, high school and technical colleges, according to Dr. María Antonia Torres, director of that program in the Ministry of Education (MINED). Efforts made in that area have had excellent results in terms of reducing to its minimum the number of precocious births and absence of schooling because of parenthood or marriage, affirms Dr. Alfonso Farnós, UNFPA’s assistant representative in Cuba. The cooperation plan between that UN institution and Cuba for the 2004-2007 period has an outlay of $500,000 and also includes the supply of contraceptives, the recompilation and processing of population statistics, the promotion of greater equality between men and women and research on population and development. Along with the Ministry of Education, other participating agencies include the Federation of Cuban Women, the National Office of Statistics, the Ministry of Public Health, and the Center for Demographic Studies attached to the University of Havana. “Along with the Ministry of Public Health, we are working to support its programs on sexual and reproductive health and the prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases,” Farnós said. “I think it is necessary to acknowledge the seriousness and dedication of our Cuban counterparts in the task of protection and services offered to the entire Cuban population and the good use made of the cooperation granted by the UNFPA. All of this has produced the magnificent results that the country may once again show this July 11th, World Population Day,” Farnós noted. To mark the day, scientific events were organized by the Center for Demographic Studies and the Enrique José Varona Higher Pedagogic Institute. In the central-southern city of Cienfuegos, a workshop on population issues took place and the youth of that province dedicated their summer kickoff fiesta to World Population Day. Juan Carlos Alfonso is director of the Center for Studies on Population and Development of the ONE. His staff is responsible for compiling national statistics on the most diverse variables of the population, and he provided them for this July 11. One of those figures is the population’s level of aging, a result of fewer babies being born, but also of an increased life expectancy, which depends on greater attention to human beings, and thus a greater quality of life. In Cuba in general, 15% of the population is 60 or older, and the central province of Villa Clara has the largest concentration of older adults, with 17.8%, while the Isle of Youth possesses the largest proportion of young people, given that only 9.6% of its population is made up of older adults. For Juan Carlos Alfonso, the island is a living example of how, in spite of economic limitations – and even adverse conditions that have been imposed – it is possible to comply with the mandate charted by the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development 10 years ago, which consecrated the inalienable right of all women and men to sexual and reproductive health. “In Cuba, those rights have been, for a long time, a beautiful reality,” Alfonso affirmed.• Population in Cuba at December 31, 2003 Total population: 11,230,076 Urban population: 8,507,406 Rural population: 2,722,670 Births: 136,795 Deaths: 78,433 Marriages: 54,739 Divorces: 35,851 Source: National Statistics Office,
May 2004
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