Cuba strengthens ties for health cooperation with world countries

HAVANA, Cuba, May 24 (ACN) In order to boost cooperation in health, Cuban health minister Jose Angel Portal Miranda exchanged views today in Geneva, with counterparts and high-level authorities, within the framework of the 75th World Health Assembly.

According to Portal Miranda on Twitter, on Tuesday he met with his Italian counterpart, Roberto Speranza, with whom he discussed the current COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges it imposes on the world's health systems.

During the exchange, the Italian minister thanked the help of the Cuban medical brigades (from the Henry Reeve contingent) which arrived in his country in March and April 2020, during the most difficult moments of the pandemic.

Portal Miranda and Mr. Speranza also defined actions to increase collaboration between Cuba and Italy in health and other areas related to scientific research.

The Cuban minister announced that he also held a working meeting with the Indian head of health, Mansukh Mandaviya, in which they discussed the fields in which bilateral cooperation could be expanded.

Regarding the meeting, Mandaviya added on Twitter that both parties agreed to work together in pharmaceutical research and manufacturing, and discussed actions to improve collaboration through bilateral MOUs.

In a meeting with the minister of health from Haiti, Alex Larsen, the head of the Cuban ministry of public health ratified his country's willingness to continue providing solidarity aid to the Haitian people.

The 75th edition of the World Health Assembly, which will be in session until May 28, is the first in person since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.