Menu

10/28/09 - Granma (Habana) - Fidel Meets with WHO Director General and PAHO
Director

On Tuesday afternoon, the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz,
met with Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health
Organization (WHO), accompanied by Dr. Mirta Roses, director of the
Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO). Both health officials have carried
out an extensive program of exchange with Cuban health professionals and
have visited various scientific and healthcare centers.

In her conversation with Fidel, Dr. Chan expressed her admiration for the
Cuban healthcare system and recognized the work carried out by the island to
combat the A H1N1 flu pandemic, including its prevention measures. In that
context, she said the WHO was willing to support our country's efforts in
that battle.

During their extensive exchange, different issues were addressed, and
information was provided on the disabilities study that is being carried out
in several Latin American countries. Dr. Chan viewed with emotion a video on
the Manuela Espejo Mission, [the study] now underway in Ecuador, and praised
the work Cuba is carrying out in collaboration with other nations in the
region.

Fidel and Dr. Chan both expressed their concerns about climate change and
other current environmental problems, their impact on health, and the
threats they pose to human life.

The leader of the Revolution thanked her for her visit to our country and
expressions of support.

Others participating in the meeting included Dr. Lea Guido, the UNAIDS
coordinator for the WHO/PAHO in Cuba, and Fu Cong, advisor to the WHO
director general. On the Cuban side, they included José Ramón Balaguer,
member of the Political Bureau and minister of public health; Rolando
Alfonso Borges, head of the Central Committee's Ideological Department;
Eusebio Leal Spengler, Havana City Historian; Marcia Cobas, deputy minister
of public health, and Emelia Icart, director of the La Castellana
Psycho-Pedagogic Medical Center.

Translated by Granma International