Cuba Adopts Measures to Prevent Ebola

HAVANA , Cuba, Aug 20 (acn) Dr. Niurka Molina, head of International Health Control Department of the Public Health Ministry (MINSAP by its Spanish acronym), said in Havana that Cuba adopted measures to prevent the introduction of Ebola virus in the country.

Molina, epidemiology specialist, told there has been international health surveillance for many years in Cuba, and its primary mission is to minimize the entry into the country of transmissible or emerging diseases.
This control is performed prior, in and post-border, she said.
Close communication is maintained with Cuban medical brigades outside the nation where a check is made to all their personnel before traveling, and a weekly report is sent to Havana on the health state of their workers and their date of arrival to Cuba to check and care of them, she noted.
These medical teams also perform registration for foreign students or Cuban personnel before coming to the country, either those on diplomatic mission or attending events, Molina emphasized.
At international airports there are disease control departments which include three lines of surveillance, but in mid flight it is mandatory the crew to notify us if there is any sick on board and this is part of the rules of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Although airlines and shipping companies adopt sanitary measures on board their ships, Cuban ports and airports also carry out timely monitoring and control actions, she added.
Molina also said in Cuban airport terminals there are information bureaus in which health authorities collect data of each traveler, mainl y those coming from countries at risk, and these are sent to areas of primary health care as an alert to take into account.
The MINSAP specialist clarified this is not made to all travelers, but to those who are in risk areas in nations especially in Africa, Southeast Asia, South and Central America and the Caribbean, primarily monitoring malaria or other diseases.
Cuba is prepared as WHO member to have a constant real-time contact, a focal point with this UN international body and with all its members, in order to exchange information about a situation.
Experts reiterate that although health authorities develop actions to ensure control and face epidemics, the best way to combat them is to reinforce hygienic and preventive measures.