Cuba is Committed to Protect HIV-Aids Patients

Havana, May 8 (ACN) Cuban Health Ministry reiterated its commitment and firm willingness to protect and assist HIV/Aids patients in the country and also share with other nations its achievements in the prevention, diagnostic, treatment and control of the disease.

The Ministry stressed the over-3-decade cooperation with UNAIDS (https://www.unaids.org/en ) and underscored the contribution of the UN joint program to areas related to advisory, the purchase of drugs and the creation of capacities to strengthen Cuba’s struggle against HIV/ Aids.

A news release on the Ministry’s website described as fruitful a recent working meeting between Cuban Health Minister Jose Angel Portal and the executive director of UNAIDS Winnie Byanyma, who is paying a visit to Cuba.

The two officials shared ideas related to the development of the Cuban program to prevent and control HIV/Aids, which was implemented in 1986, based on social prevention.

At present Cuba reports 28 thousand 643 HIV/ Aids persons, 96.8 percent of whom are under treatment and 89.3 percent of those under therapy have a suppressed viral load of the disease.

In 2015, Cuba was certified as the first country in the world to have eliminated the Mother-to-Child HIV/Aids transmission. This condition was again validated in 2017, 2029 and 2022.

The Cuban Health Ministry says that all these achievement are the result of the island’s political commitment to the attention and assistance of HIV/Aids patients, the investment done for those aims, and the values of the Cuban Health System, which focuses on primary health assistance and prevention.