Cuba inaugurates center to assist HIV/AIDS patients

[Mika]

Source: Xinhua (because US media has all but blacked out real Cuba news)

A center to assist more than 2,000 HIV/AIDS patients from six eastern Cuban provinces was inaugurated Friday at the Juan Bruno Zayas hospital in Santiago de Cuba.

The center has high-tech equipment for immunology and virology analysis, surgical treatment, and endoscopic procedures. It also provides health counseling for patients and their relatives.

Cuban Deputy Public Minister Luis Estruch said the new center will track the patients from the six eastern Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Las Tunas, Holguin, Granma, Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba. Until now, these patients had to go to Havana for treatment.

The inauguration of the center coincided with the opining of the International Rehabilitation Congress 2009 in Havana with participation of some 450 experts from 12 countries.

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/11/content_11167445.htm

---

Due to their open public and school based awareness and prevention education campaigns, Cuba has the lowest HIV/AIDS transmission rate in the western hemisphere.

Been there. Seen it.

[and-justice-for-all]

1. And the US Congress does not seem to be willing to lift the absurd..

embargo.

well cheers to Cuba for this.

[Mika]

2. I guess that real unity of goals and action scares 'em.

Gawd forbid the people actually express their desires.

Learn from Cuba

[Bacchus39]

6. yeah, it would be great if Cubans could access the internet , travel to the outside, and have a free

press and not be dictated to by the government. I totally agree. then again $20 a month only goes so far.

[Mika]

33. All of it caused by the poverty induced by the targeted US embargo.

Cubans can buy computers and internet connections - if they can afford it. Problem is that the US embargo prevents Cuba from connecting to the US corporate owned (Cisco) Caribbean fiber optic WWW trunk, making massive connection impossible and unaffordable. Cubans who can afford it can and do travel. There are Cuban enclaves in Canada, Asia, the Latin Americas, Europe. Many, and their family members, travel regularly back and forth to and from Cuba. 520+ pesos ($20) does go pretty far in Cuba, considering that rent, utilities, and food are all subsidized - child care, higher ed, and health care are free.

You know jack about Cuba.

[bbinacan]

3. Does Cuba

still pull them out of their communities and exile them to camps like they did in the 80s? Is this the same thing?

[AlphaCentauri]

12. I guess people with HIV looking for a better treatment an quality live

will go to any center designated to improve their life expectancy

[Mika]

19. No, and Cuba never did "exile" them.

Your story is pure fabricated BS from anti Cuban exiles and the US gov.

Cuba built treatment sanatoriums in every province to treat the ill. It was all part of Cuba's health care system, which could have been overwhelmed and broken by a widespread unknown (at that time) epidemic. Concentrated specialized care and research. Only people who were convicted of deliberately infecting others were mandated to stay in the sanatoriums (not in jails, as the US does for such convictions) for a period of time, then allowed supervised release.

Cuba never treated HIV/AIDS as if it were a "gay disease" because the transmission rate was greater in the hetero community. As soon as the transmission modality was discovered Cuba engaged in a massive public prevention education campaign.

Cuba did this during the Reagan administration, when the leader of the free world refused to even say the word AIDS and who's admin inactivity surely caused the deaths of many.

[Judi Lynn]

27. I found a reference to what you've mentioned I'd like to post, to jog people's memories.

First of all, please recall the fact that it was believed at first people should never touch anyone with AIDS, and that children with AIDS should not be allowed to go to school where they could contaminate other children. Do you happen to remember that when it was discovered Magic Johnson had AIDS, people were worried that when he fell down on the floor playing basketball and his sweat would remain there, that the people who run out with towels to wipe up the floor could be killed by his disease?

That was an Age of Enlightenment, wasn't it?

Here's a quote very easy to find, and there are TONS more to corroborate what you've written:

Ronald Reagan and AIDS

By David Salyer

September/October 2004

~snip~
Ronald Reagan got a lot of mileage out of his seductive charm and movie star smile. He knew how to deliver a great line. Love him or loathe him, the man was a wildly successful, hugely manipulative media presence. A master of the slick sound bite, he uttered one of his most memorable lines during a trip to Germany in 1987. Standing at the Brandenburg Gate that divided East and West Berlin, Reagan pointed to the "iron curtain" and bellowed, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" While no objective historian believes the Berlin Wall tumbled two years later as a direct result of this dare, Reagan succeeded brilliantly in drawing attention to one of the world's most heinous creations. His palpable indignation resonated around the globe.

If only Ronald Reagan had been willing or able to summon up similar passion and bluntness during the early days of AIDS. First reported in the medical and mainstream press in 1981, it was not until October 1987 that Reagan publicly spoke about the AIDS epidemic in a major policy address. By the end of that year, 59,572 AIDS cases had been reported and 27,909 of those women and men had died. He and his administration did almost nothing during the first seven years of the epidemic. AIDS research was chronically underfunded. Community education and prevention programs were routinely denied federal funding.

Reagan, a man affectionately dubbed the Great Communicator by his supporters, was excruciatingly, unjustifiably silent about HIV and AIDS. Defenders of the Reagan legacy like to argue that his domestic policy advisers downplayed AIDS to such a degree that the former president never developed a sense of urgency. To accept this, you would also have to believe that Reagan never watched television or picked up a newspaper. The media -- print and television, including the first 24-hour news network, CNN -- were all over AIDS in the 1980s. Histrionic televangelists like Pat Robertson and Rev. Jerry Falwell seized any opportunity to articulate and promote the idea that AIDS was God's wrath upon homosexuals.

Even as the highly publicized illness and subsequent 1985 death of Rock Hudson made headlines and sent a shiver down Hollywood's spine, Reagan remained inexplicably quiet. His friend and colleague, beloved actor and White House state dinner guest, was dead from AIDS. No public comment. What was that about? Indifference?

Had he chosen to speak up after Hudson's death, the world would have listened. Ronald Reagan, the man who confidently parlayed Hollywood stardom into a successful political career, could not have had a more compelling opportunity to open his mouth.

Some carefully chosen words might have squelched the homophobic rhetoric of the day. Some genuine leadership might have generated compassion to counter growing hostility and hysteria about AIDS in America. How profoundly different our world might be today if Reagan had pointed to one insufferable preacher and bellowed, "Rev. Falwell, you sanctimonious turd, sit down and shut up!"

Or what if this man, this piece of all-American craftsmanship, had simply offered an affirmation of plainspoken optimism about AIDS? What if he'd just told us he cared about the lives of the people infected or affected by the virus? In eulogizing the former president, the current occupant of the White House, George W. Bush, told us Ronald Reagan "believed that the gentleman always does the kindest thing." All the recent glorification of his presidency cannot eclipse the fact that when it came to AIDS, Ronald Reagan did not show the world his humanity.

More:
http://www.thebody.com/content/art32196.html

[Mika]

31. Thanks for the link, Judi.

Amazing contrast between the US and Cuba in regards to this extreme health issue. Of course, in the US there's money to be made treating diseases - or denying treatments by the omnipotent insurance industry.

In Cuba there is no for-profit in disease, hence their massive public prevention education campaigns. It saved millions from infection, and Cuba treated all who sought treatment for free.

[bbinacan]

34. So the 60 minutes

segment on this was wrong?

[Mika]

37. You might want to read this.

Gives some good insight to Cuba's health care system's reaction to an unknown (at the time) epidemic.


Cuba's AIDS patient #1 dies
By Karen Lee Wald, Havana
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/011.html

[Judi Lynn]

38. Thanks for making that article by Karen Lee Wald available, Mika.

It's information people can use regarding a subject it's clear many don't grasp at ALL, but continue discussing.

Karen Wald always delivers real information. Exceptionally good material.

[LynnTheDem]

4. WELL DONE, Cuba!!!

:applause:

[WriteDown]

5. Ever since Fidel's death...

Cuba has been out front on this issue. Although the US deserves some props for their assistance with HIV in Africa.

[EFerrari]

7. So, who was that with Barabara Lee and the CBC last week?

The clip of their meeting was all over the news. Is EVERYBODY in on it now?

[WriteDown]

9. Please post the link nt

[EFerrari]

10. No, thanks.

I'm sure you'll sneak up on it when you can handle it. :)

[WriteDown]

11. Amazing how evidence seems to be shaky or just plain

vanishes. Hahahahahha....

[EFerrari]

13. Are you saying the BBC, the AP and the CBC are all in on this hoax?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97JtoJMefds&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pK-17KEfp8&NR=1

[WriteDown]

14. Zero video of Fidel...

with anyone. Strange, isn't it? Everyone has "met" him and he's so "alert", "healthy" and "energetic" but he can only be seen in file footage.

[EFerrari]

15. We always knew Barbara Lee and Bobby Rush were big fat liars.

:)

[Mika]

16. Everybody is in on it.

Good thing DU has hard core researchers like WD to ferret out the truth. :eyes:

[WriteDown]

18. Find me some recent video or audio of him with

anyone. Should be easy to make me a believer.

[EFerrari]

21. If you don't believe Barbara Lee, you are beyond salvation, I'm sorry. n/t

[WriteDown]

22. I believe my eyes.

I'm less crazy about 3rd party testimony.

[EFerrari]

25. Do you have the same problem with object permanence and gravity?

You should be able to get SSI for that.

[AlphaCentauri]

17. aha! another conspiracy theory?

:yoiks:

[Mika]

20. Cuba was out front of this issue well before Raul's administration.

Cuba was out front of this issue in the 80's.

Nice try. Play again?

[WriteDown]

23. Sure...

From HRW

According to a Human Rights Watch report, "the government also heightened harassment of homosexuals , raiding several nightclubs known to have gay clientele and allegedly beating and detaining dozens of patrons."<16>

Obviously, a correlating issue. More here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Cuba

[EFerrari]

24. That page at HRW doesn't exist. n/t

[WriteDown]

29. The site has changed a bit...

Here's a bunch of info on CUBA from HRW. Should be a fun read. All lies and innuendo though.

http://www.hrw.org/en/search/apachesolr_search/Cuba+language%3Aen+tid%3A61?

[Mika]

26. Some people say.

Really. Look at your posted HRW statement (talk about the 'some people say' Faux news reporting style)...

According to a Human Rights Watch report, "the government also heightened harassment of homosexuals , raiding several nightclubs known to have gay clientele and allegedly beating and detaining dozens of patrons."

HRW has none of its own people in Cuba. They are simply stenographers for the RW Miami based Cubanet (funded by the International Republican Institute and Mellon Scaife foundations) for their paid "independent journalists" who produce "reports" based on nothing more than hearsay (for profit).

These idiots have "reported" Castro's death more than a few times. Maybe that's why you constantly post their BS. ;)

[WriteDown]

28. I love the people who demonize HRW..

It really is sad.

[Mika]

30. HRW might be a good org, just not on Cuba. They don't do their own reporting there.

I am not demonizing HRW. Just criticizing their use of a very biased source for their Cuba "reports" which are verbatim reproductions of RW Cubanet's "reports".

If you cannot tell the difference, then you might want brush up on the meaning of demonize. :dunce:

[EFerrari]

35. Not at all. Intervention by NGO is the oldest trick in the book and HRW

doesn't have a squeaky clean record.

[Runcible Spoon]

36. Castro is dead huh?

Guess someone has been trolling right wing conspiracy sites a bit too much.

[EFerrari]

8. Wonderful news.

[Vidar]

32. Bravo Cuba!