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Jamaica, Cuba renew cooperation agreement on health

Published:Tuesday | February 25, 2020 | 3:55 PM
Cuba’s Ambassador to Jamaica, Ines Fors Fernandez (left), and Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, at the signing of a renewed technical cooperation agreement on February 25, 2020 - Christopher Serju photo

Jamaica and Cuba today renewed a technical cooperation agreement on health for an additional three years.

“The agreement we sign this morning gives response to the demanding times we are living in today and will contribute to face the current complex challenges in the health sector. It brings our work in line with the goals and targets set out in Health 2020 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” said Cuba’s Ambassador to Jamaica, Ines Fors Fernandez.

She emphasised that the greater good of healthcare trumps politics and ideology.

For his part, Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, acknowledged that Cuban medical professionals played a critical role, over many years, in supporting the country’s health care system.

“That relationship has definitely had a significant value where there have been gaps,” Tufton said.

“The clear and present danger today, for example of the Coronavirus, clearly requires a global approach and to not take that approach, places us all at risk and makes us weaker,” Tufton added.

Thirty Cuban health professionals are expected to arrive in Jamaica on Thursday, joining a cadre of 276.

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