Cuba-Norway Cooperation Agreement Signed in Havana to Help Haiti.
CUBA, October 29th, 2010.- Cuba and Norway signed in this capital a second cooperation agreement to contribute to alleviate the situation faced by the Haitian people, worsened by the cholera epidemic.
With the purpose of giving continuity to the humanitarian aid offered following the January 12 earthquake, the Nordic country signed a donation equivalent to 850,000 dollars for the purchasing and transport of medical resources and other consumables to Haiti, through the Cuban Public Health Ministry.
This is the second agreement of this kind, for the same amount. The first one was signed in January, a few days after the devastating earthquake, which resulted in 50,000 deaths and 250,000 people being injured, according to data provided by Haitian Health Minister Alex Larsen.
The agreement was signed in the Cuban capital at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment by deputy minister Ramon Ripoll and Norwegian ambassador to Havana Jan Tore Holvik.
Haitian health authorities confirmed on Friday that the figure of people who have died as a consequence of cholera has risen to 330, a disease present in part of the country, while it’s already affecting some 4,714 people, the Spanish EFE news agency reported.
Lorenzo Somarriba, head of the Cuban Medical Mission in Haiti, asserted in Tuesday, by way of a telephone contact with the Telesur television network, that there are some 855 Cuban physicians, nurses and health experts working in 125 units of the Haitian Health Ministry. Cuba has offered all the necessary medical assistance, declared Haitian President Rene Preval, cited by Radio Havana Cuba.
During a visit to the Community Reference Hospital of Mirebaleis on Tuesday, the Haitian head of state expressed his appreciation for the attitude of Cuban physicians. (Cubaminrex- ACN)