Also alarming was the high proportion of health care workers among Ebola fatalities. the lack of public health facilities or programs and West Africa exacerbated the problem. thus, when the WHO called for international assistance, rich countries threw them finances, supplies and military personnel but not the urgently needed medics. in September 2014, WHO director Margaret Chan said " money and materials are important but those two things alone cannot stop Ebola virus transmission. human resources are clearly our most important need. We need most especially compassionate doctors and nurses, who will know how to comfort patients despite the barriers of wearing PPE and working under very demanding conditions."
Cuba was the first country to respond to the who appeal, sending the largest medical contingent to Guinea , Sierra leone, and Liberia. Where they had already had Medical personnel. When Perez told w h o officials that the Cubans would stay for at least 6 months they replied " you are crazy no one can be there 6 months, it's too high risk! After 3 or 4 weeks the Medics will get ill. " Perez ruled that out, confident that thorough preparation would prevent infection. That training was his responsibility.
Back in cuba, the ministry of Public Health called for medical volunteers. Nothing was said about renumeration, but the risks were made clear. Incredibly, within 2 weeks more than 10,000 people had volunteered as Perez says, quote to gamble with their lives quote. Interviewed in monrovia, the capital of liberia, Cuban volunteer Dr Leonardo Fernandez explained: quote at my hospital they arrived and asked who was willing to go, and told us that we might not return. I had treated hemorrhagic fevers in mozambique, and I raised my hand, and here I am. Well I have strength and they accept me, I will go where I am needed."
Perez had a field Hospital set up on the ipk grounds. The Cuban climate created similar conditions to those in West africa. Over 400 Cuban volunteers were picked for 4 weeks of intensive training in cuba, and the 256 who were subsequently selected for the mission in West Africa received another four weeks training there. Those Cubans had an average age of 47, and 15 years of professional experience. All had Faced Natural Disasters and disease outbreaks in other developing countries as members of Cuba's International Henry Reeve contingent, which is discussed below.
Arriving in early October 2014, they worked in groups of three doctors and six nurses in 6-hour shifts, 7 days a week. The 23 Cuban medical professionals already working in Sierra Leone were joined by 165 volunteers; 53 went to Liberia and 35 to guinea where 16 Cuban medical professionals were already stationed. The Cubans confronted immense physical, medical and psychological challenges: sweltering in their protective gear coping with dehydration, patients often reaching them once the disease had caused serious damage. Initially they faced mortality rates of 50%, traumatic even for experience professionals. Dr Fernandez reported: quote we saw entire families die, children left alone. But we also saw others who survived ebola, who after recovering adopted orphaned children. " the Cubans stayed two or three in a room in budget hotels, paid for out of the daily stipend of between USD 220 and USD 250 received from the United Nations to cover food and lodgings.
Cuban Medics quickly reduced the mortality rates of their patients to 20% and introduced a preventative education program to stop the disease spreading. Over 400 lives were saved in Sierra Leone and guinea alone. The Cubans treated hundreds of other patients infected, not by ebola, but by similar pathologies, such as malaria, a far bigger killer than ebola, responsible for over 400,000 African deaths every year. Two Cuban doctors died after getting malaria. Just one Cuban doctor Felix Baez, contracted Ebola. He was transferred to the Geneva University Hospital to be treated at the un. Perez rushed from Havana to Geneva to join the medical team treating him. He recalled that Bae has arrived quote in critical condition, not always lucid quote. However, quote on day two he recognized me. He told me, " I'm going to be okay, and I'm going back to Sierra Leone" I have to admit I was very moved." That is exactly what Baez did.
By January 2015, Cuba had trained over 13,000 people to deal with Ebola in 28 African countries, plus 68,000 people in Latin America and 628 in the caribbean. The training program in Havana was attended by 278 Specialists and infectious diseases from 34 countries including the United states. Within cuba, nearly 324,000 people received Ebola training. By March 2015, the situation in West Africa was under control. The Cuban Medics had a staggered return, followed by 21 days in quarantine at the ipk hospital to safeguard against introducing the virus to the island. 3 weeks is the maximum incubation. For ebola. By May 2015, over $26,500 cases of Ebola had been reported, resulting in over 11,000 deaths, 1/5 of them children, and including 507 Medical personnel.
Dr Fernandez pointed out that the media impact of Cuba Isabel emissions quote made some believe that we had done something extraordinary, which makes us Heroes quote. Indeed, Cuba's contribution was lauded internationally. A New York Times editorial explained: " the work of these Cuban Medics benefits the entire Global effort and should be recognized for that." In mid-october 2014, both the US Secretary of state, John kerry, and US ambassador to the United nations, Samantha power, praise the Cuban role in West Africa. Announcing reproachment between the United States and Cuba on 17th December 2014, President Obama referred to Cuba's Ebola campaign as an example of the benefits of collaboration : " America and Cuban health workers should work side by side to stop the spread of this deadly disease "
Dr fernandez, however, shied away from special praise. He asked: " how is it different from those Cubans working in the Brazilian jungle? How is it different from those in the Venezuelan jungle, working alone and Indigenous communities for months? How is it different from those serving an African villages? Or in the jungle, and temperatures reaching 48°. The difference is that this was a high profile International mission. " his point is that the contribution of Cuban healthcare workers elsewhere, and over decades, has largely been ignored the Cubans combating Ebola but we're a drop in the ocean compared to the 400,000 Cuban medical professionals who have worked overseas in 164 countries since 1960 and about whom politicians and the mainstream media have said almost nothing.
And what an impact they have had! Literally, millions of lives have been saved and hundreds of millions of lives improved. By the Ebola outbreak in 2014, Cuban medical professionals had performed 1.2 billion consultations overseas, attended 2.2 million births and performed over 8 million surgeries. More than 4,000 Cuban Medical Professional over half of them doctors were already working in 32 African countries at that time. Some 76,000 Cuban medical personnel had already worked in 39 African countries since the early 1960s. Meanwhile, Cuba had sustained more than 20,000 healthcare workers in Venezuela for a decade, with thousands more in neighboring countries. Add to their numbers the Cuban soldiers, educators, constructors, technicians and other Specialists sent overseas by the government and you get to the astonishing fact that in Revolutionary Cuba around 1 in 10 Cubans have been on an internationalist mission.