Cuba Appreciates UNICEF Powdered Milk Donation for Children Hospitals

Havana, March 29 (ACN) Cuban extended its appreciation to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for a donation of 19 tons of powdered milk destined to six thousand minors currently in pediatric hospitals in the western section of the country.

Deputy Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Minister Deborah Rivas ratified her gratitude to UNICEF for its permanent efforts aimed at supporting Cuba’s health system, particularly amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the strengthened US economic blockade of the island nation.

During a ceremony at Havana’s Juan Manuel Marquez Pediatric Hospital, the government official said that despite the difficulties facing Cuban economy, the country keeps boasting health indicators for pediatric ages comparable to those of the most developed nations.

Rivas also praised UNICEF’s contribution to face the pandemic here in 2020 and 2021, which went over five million dollars. The UN agency has donated different resources to Cuba including syringes, protection means, vital equipment like an ambulance and an oxygen plant, as well as ultrasound equipment, said the deputy minister.

She reiterated Cuba’s high commitment to its children and adolescent, expressed in the new Family Code draft currently under debates by the people. Rivas also reiterated her government’s willingness to keep deepening joint cooperation with UNICEF for the sake of health, education and wellbeing of the children.

UNICEF representative in Cuba Alejandra Trossero explained that the donation, valued at 85 thousand dollars, is destined to hospitals in the western provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, Havana, Mayabeque and Matanzas.

Trossero reiterated her agency’s commitment to keep supporting Cuba in all programs and she went on to recall that over the past 60 years UNICEF shares history with Cuba while its office has operated here for the past 30 years.

Doctor Dania Madielo, from the Havana Pediatric Hospital extended her gratefulness for the noble gesture and praised the importance of milk for the development of the children.