The document was signed by Cuban Health Minister Ramon Balaguer and by Hon. Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, who arrived in Havana last weekend for an official visit at the invitation of Cuban President Raul Castro.

Speaking to ACN, Balaguer said that Spencer was particularly interested in the Cuban experience in the treatment of diabetes, a disease that is significantly affecting the people of Antigua and Barbuda.

The PM also referred to non transmissible chronic diseases and spoke of a Center for Integral Diagnosis donated by Cuba. He also expressed his interest in increasing cooperation in the training of nursing personnel from his country in Cuba.

Operation Miracle, a program that began in 2004, has already benefited more than 1.1 million people from 32 countries, mainly from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Patients from Antigua and Barbuda entered the program on July 22, 2005, and it has thus far returned sight to one in every 58 inhabitants of that Caribbean nation.

Currently, 44 Cuban workers of the health sector make their contribution in Antigua and Barbuda while 43 youths from the neighboring country study medicine in Cuba.

(mathaba.net)