• Submitted by: admin
• Health and Medicine
• 04 / 07 / 2007

During a press conference, the Pan American Health Organization representative in Cuba, Dr. Lea Guido, explained the difficulties of living safely in a globalized world, where diseases spread from one continent to another in a very short time.

She referred to the way emerging and re-emerging illnesses are a challenge to the world, as she recalled that from 1973 to 2000, 39 illness-causing infectious agents were detected.

New and already known conditions threaten peoples, ignoring borders, she said, and warned of the threat of a global influenza pandemic nowadays.

The PAHO expert also highlighted the Island's solidarity toward other peoples, in what makes it a strategic ally to face current world challenges.

Meanwhile, Cuba's Health Deputy Minister Gonzalo Estevez explained that the Island devotes 18 percent of its Gross Domestic Product to public health, besides investments in new equipment and ongoing remodeling of health facilities.

Source: Prensa Latina