HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

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Italy Recommends Cuban Medical Brigade for Nobel Peace Prize

The Henry Reeve International Contingents, specialized in disaster situations and epidemics, are made up of doctors, nurses, and specialists that, since the outbreak began, have been at the frontline of the fight against the pandemic.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, Cuba has sent doctors and nurses to 21 nations across the world including South Africa, Italy, Honduras, Cape Verde, Suriname, and across the Caribbean. The medical staff assists the local healthcare system by providing their services to COVID-19 infected patients.

“It has been inspiring to see Cuba’s amazing response to the pandemic at home and abroad. The Nobel Peace prize should definitely be awarded to Cuba’s international medical brigades. It would be a timely and just recognition for their brave work around the world,” Regan said back in May.

For her part, the Cuban ambassador to the U.K. Barbara Montalvo pointed out that the island’s strategy to confront the virus is based on the accumulated experience for disease prevention and disaster management.

Yet the island’s response to the global emergency is not new and is part of a long history of Cuban humanitarianism.

In the last 56 years 400,000 Cuban health workers have responded to natural disasters and helped build health services in 164 nations. This includes sending medical brigades to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Kashmiri earthquake (2005), to Haiti to assist with the devastating cholera outbreak following the earthquake (2010), and to West Africa in the region’s fight against Ebola (2015).